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 day early this time due to the Easter weekend: I doubt that Arenanet will be publishing any new material from Friday to Sunday.

Part 1: Discussion of previous news

• Nothing in this category this week, it’s all Charr, all the time.

Part 2: Guild Wars news

• Reminder: If you’d like to keep track of the upcoming “Winds of Change” and other “Guild Wars Beyond” material, keep this page bookmarked.
• Rubi Bayer: Walk on the wild side. “I have a confession to make: I’m
  burned out on Guild Wars. That’s not the fault of Guild Wars at all — I’m finding a general feeling of burnout with all themepark MMOs in general. I discussed it at length with Shawn and Beau on last week’s Massively Speaking [podcast], but the short version is that I find myself logging into my core MMOs (Guild Wars, Dungeons and Dragons Online, and RIFT), saying some version of “Meh,” and logging out again. After a couple weeks of this, it finally occurred to me to take my own darn advice: Try something new and different. With my typical all-or-nothing approach, I’m jumping in with both feet. So what is my new venture? Most of you can probably guess, but follow along after the jump for the skinny on my latest project.”

Part 3: Guild Wars 2 news

• Kill Ten Rats: Shades of Zoo. “This doesn’t necessarily make one dynamic event system better than the other. Just like some people prefer the focused experience of Disney’s Animal Kingdom to the San Diego Zoo, so to will some people prefer Rift’s guided approach to Guild Wars 2′s events-are-everywhere approach. We are seeing different sides to Rift only because it is live and being experienced by so many. Obviously Trion Worlds hit their first stumble when trying to provide a singular whammy of an event last Saturday. It will be interesting to see what we and ArenaNet learns when the masses hit their servers. Trion Worlds is already learning from theirs.”
• Prepare yourself for Charr Week! “The charr first appeared in the original Guild Wars as the implacable foes of humanity, but a lot has happened in the 250 years between the first game and the time period of Guild Wars 2. The charr have rejected their false gods and embraced industry and technology with gusto, crafting devastating weaponry and incredible machinery. But empire and expansion comes with a heavy price, and the charr of Guild Wars 2 are beset by formidable enemies on all sides.”
• Introducing the Charr as a playable race. “There are eight professions we’ve announced, and Charr will be able to play all eight,” confirmed ArenaNet’s Jon Peters. “Race choices are a story and role-playing decision for us, but that being said, we do like to add some flavour to the races by giving them specific skills. So the Charr are technologically advanced compared to the other races, so some of their profession skills do things like a hidden pistol, shrapnel mines, and an elite skill where they can call in an artillery barrage,” added the developer.”
• Charr Week interview with Jeff Grubb and John Peters. “In the
  original Guild Wars we had one playable race, which was human, but now we’ve got the humans, the Charr, Asura, Sylvari and the Norn. This week we’re officially revealing the Charr, who were the bad guys in the original prophecies. They were the race that broke through the great wall, attacked Ascalon, and now, they are a playable race. We go a lot more into their culture, their world, their rationale, as well as why they’re here and what their goals are. The Charr themselves are these huge, feline, horned warriors. You know, they have come from a military culture, and in Guild Wars 2 they have conquered Ascalon. Although they would say they ‘re-conquered’ it, because that land was originally theirs before the humans arrived and drew them out.”
• Part 2 of the interview with Jeff Grubb and John Peters. “Looking at the MMO space specifically, it’s important to be very social. In most MMOs, you have all of these players playing together, but they’re not very social, and like, we took every aspect of it and said, ‘what can we do to make Guild Wars 2 more social?’ That’s why the combat is more about working together, and why the story in the persistent world is all about events, which is content that players do together. “
• Interview with Jeff Grubb. “The humans and charr have a truce, and part of that truce is that both species are welcome in each other’s cities. In practice, only adventurous souls would walk into the other race’s city. The charr don’t eat other sentient races, though they will gladly let you believe that if it makes it easier to deal with you.”
• Creating the Charr starting area. “Every map is important, but the importance of the starter maps is magnified because they are the first maps you see when you create a new character and set the tone for each race. I wanted to talk a bit about the first area of the map, the Village of Smokestead, and what the process was to get it to its final state. Along the way, I’ll discuss the iterative process that we employ at ArenaNet and just how important it is to us that we get things done right, even if it takes extra time to get there.”
• Arenanet hints at Guild Wars 2 expansions. “Dragons are ‘all over the place’ in the Guild Wars universe, according to Grubb, but as for appearing in future expansions the developer remained coy: ‘Going beyond Guild Wars 2 — yes, the other dragons are there, and they have potential — but what we’re doing with them? Well, we’re worrying about dealing with Zhaitan first,’ he added.”
• Scott McGough on Writing the Charr. “Our world designers and writers approach the charr with a certain amount of gusto. After all, it’s just plain fun to write for the bad guys, especially when you get to explore their point of view, in which they’re the good guys. We know some people will feel a lingering resentment of the charr — probably because of that whole Searing thing — in addition to the gleeful anticipation of getting inside their fur, so our guiding principle for writing them has been to delve into some of the unexplored charr virtues (industry, discipline, fearlessness) along with their well known vices (aggression, bloodthirst, and ruthlessness). Balancing the admirable traits with the fearsome ones allows us to present a more complete picture of charr society without negating or retconning their violent history.”
• It’s just plain fun to write for the bad guys. “This is an especially interesting read for longtime fans of Guild Wars because we’ve watched the Charr evolve over the years and learned more about their hierarchy, their values, their strengths, and their failings. The Charr began (in the eyes of the humans) as a formidable but lesser group of creatures to be removed from the human lands of Old Ascalon. Over time, we’ve learned much more about this fierce, intelligent, and strictly organized race — even becoming allies with some of its members.”
• Charr Fanfic, for those inclined (I haven’t read it).
• The artistic origin of the Charr. “In our world, if you are a human, large cats are terrifying. They’ve been eating people for thousands of years, and they come for us out of the trees and the brush and the darkness. So we took a risk and tried concepting cat people. However, the original concepts weren’t impressive, and even came troublingly close to being cute. We began incorporating fire and horns into their designs to push towards a more threatening, demonic feel. We ended up with a fire worshipping race of hell cats. As we fleshed out more of their story we followed through on less of the varied forms than we originally planned, but you can still see remnants of the original design in the stances of the magic-using and weapon-wielding charr in Guild Wars.”
• A fire-worshipping race of hell cats. “Oh, they were always around, of course. The introduction of female Charr in Guild Wars 2 caused a huge buzz among fans, though, because the females were never seen in Guild Wars 1. Artist Kristen Perry was responsible for translating the monstrous Charr into a feminine form — and proving that “fantasy genre” doesn’t have to equal “buxom, wasp-waisted catgirl.” As with the original Charr design, there was quite a bit of discussion and some uncertainty along the way.”
• Warfronts and technological advances. “Charr are a race to be reckoned with. We already knew that after the searing, but now that they’ve gone through a mechanical revolution, they’re even more powerful. Today we’re getting spoiled with yet another update on the charr, this time we’re getting the full back story to get up to speed to Tyria, 250 years forward.”
• Updated Charr page at the official site (including new video). “The feline charr of Tyria are a victorious race challenged by their own success. They have survived defeat, oppression, and civil war. They have returned, reconquered, and rebuilt their original homes. Their mighty fortress, the Black Citadel, dominates the surrounding ruins of the human city of Rin, and their non-magical technology is the mightiest in the land. Yet despite their success, they are challenged by divisions among their people, the power of the Elder Dragons, and the ghosts of their own victories. This, then, is their story.”
• Massively analyzes the new Charr video. “Sharp-eyed Guild Wars fans will catch more than one startling contrast in the first seconds of the video. There’s the obvious: the pastoral landscape combined with the aggressive, drum-heavy, militaristic score. But look a little closer. Things are green and growing, the river isn’t tar. It looks like Pre-Searing, or maybe the Charr homelands in the north. But a glance at the background landscape gives the location away — this is Ascalon, and those structures are the broken ruins of the human city.”

Update, 23 April: I was wrong . . . Arenanet did post a bit more Charr information on Friday:

The Legions of the Charr. “In the year 1090 of the Mouvelian calendar, King Adelbern, last human ruler of Ascalon, released the Foefire. The human residents of that land succumbed to the terrible magic, only to rise again as ghosts. By 1112, the High Legions of the charr reclaimed the entirety of Ascalon. Only four years later, Kalla Scorchrazor of the Blood Legion came before Forge Ironstrike, the imperator of the Iron Legion, and challenged him to help her free their people from the shamans’ control. Together, Kalla and Forge led a rebellion against the Flame Legion, overthrowing their tyrannical rule. The three legions, Blood, Ash, and Iron, then reassembled a nation from the ruins of the past.”

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.

Another slow week, although we’ve been promised some big news starting on Monday, during Charr Week.

Part 1: Discussion of previous news

• The Guild Wars community, by Rubi Bayer. “I hope ArenaNet appreciates what a fantastic community it has. I don’t mean to suggest that the developers and community team are not appreciative, but this time of year it always strikes me anew what an incredibly dedicated fanbase this company enjoys. The community talks freely with (and often at) the Guild Wars development and community teams, usually in a very casual and comfortable fashion — inside jokes and off-topic chats are as common as serious game discussion and feedback. I’m sure it can get overwhelming for the ANet team sometimes, but it speaks volumes about the community that it’s so entrenched, consistent, and knowledgeable about ArenaNet and the people behind it.”
• NCsoft posted a retrospective video and photo gallery from this year’s PAX East show.

Part 2: Guild Wars news

• No new Guild Wars information this week (not even a game update worth mentioning). If you’d like to keep track of the upcoming “Winds of Change” and other Guild Wars Beyond material, keep this page bookmarked.

Part 3: Guild Wars 2 news

• “One of the major concerns of Guild Wars 2 fans is, for lack of a better word, depth. As I was listening to GuildCast the other day, one of their guests went into a long rant about how he thinks Guild Wars 2 doesn’t present any depth.”
• More on the nomination of Ghosts of Ascalon for a Scribe award. “The IAMTW is an organization of writers who create works of fiction where the intellectual property rights are held by others — stuff like movie and game tie-ins, novelizations, and other shared world projects. This year Ghosts of Ascalon — a gripping tale that sets the stage for Guild Wars 2 — was nominated in the Speculative Original category.”
• How to make MMOs better. “From both a business and a development standpoint, making and launching a new MMO is the most intimidating task in video games. Where does ArenaNet find such confidence and daring? What makes this unassuming studio, founded by a trio of ex-Blizzard staff in 2000 and with one game to its name, think it can take on the might of their former employer?”
• Ten Ton Hammer: Why care? “If you haven’t been watching Guild Wars 2, then you’re missing history in the making. Let me tell you why!”
• You might want to bookmark NowGamer’s website for next week (aka “Charr Week”):
  “Monday — From 10am we have the first part of our exclusive interview with ArenaNet’s Jeff Grubb, Continuity and Lore Designer and John Peters, Game Designer. They talk about the story of Guild Wars 2, quests, skills and more — as well as an exclusive reveal.
  Tuesday — Day two features the broader half of our Guild Wars 2 interview, which takes in the plot, how the world has changed, the new microtransaction model, hints at where expansions could go and the future of Free2Play.
  Wednesday — Look out for exclusive images related to the Monday reveal.
  Thursday — Hit NowGamer at 5pm GMT for the world premiere of the official Guild Wars 2 reveal trailer.”

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.”

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 mix of real and “real” news this week.

Part 1: Discussion of previous news

• Not technically Guild Wars-related, but the company from which ArenaNet’s founders started off: Blizzard, celebrates their 20th anniversary.
  “You’ll find commercials for console games stuffed into just about every 30-second nook and cranny in primetime TV. After all, the audience is sitting in front of the TV for entertainment, and if you’re a console game developer or publisher, these are your people. So when Blizzard announced that it would air an advertisement for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm during a nationally televised Dallas Cowboys vs. Minnesota Vikings game, it was unprecedented. WoW has become such a staggeringly big and widly accepted entertainment product that broadcasting the opening cinematic for Cataclysm to an audience traditionally more interested in lime-flavored beer and Madden games doesn’t sound crazy. In the PC gaming ecosystem, only Blizzard has the clout to pull that off.”
• Another WoW news item, but one that may impact other MMO games: Canada’s biggest internet service provider, Rogers Communications, has been deliberately throttling the internet connections of WoW players. “Rogers said that it was Blizzard’s use of BitTorrent to deliver updates that triggered the throttling, and said that customers who disabled this setting — as well as any other peer-to-peer applications — would not see a slowdown in speed. “

Part 2: Guild Wars news

• Creating the seven-hero vanquish team. “I run as an SoS ranger. If you’re a rit, even better. Most professions can run a decent SoS easy if you’ve got good energy management: necros, mesmers, eles, and rangers are your best bet. Dervs and Monks can pull it off with some major tweaking. You’ll struggle as a warrior, sin, or paragon, however. If you’re not an SoS, no worries. The team build I use allots for one.”
• Game update including a sneak peak at the new Guild Wars 2 profession — the Commando.
• The commandos are here. “Cpl. Bane will be stationed at Embark Beach until ~noon PDT on Monday. Speak to him before then — the very future depends on it! “

Part 3: Guild Wars 2 news

• Elixabeth at TalkTyria looks at the recently introduced Hylek: “One word has changed. The nature of the hylek really hasn’t changed at all. They are a sentient people with which we as player characters may have peaceable relations or full-on warfare. We see that they still look very much like the frog-men we’ve all come to love stomping on. Their tribal culture seems relatively unaltered. They are still more or less behind on the technology curve, since they have to trade with other sentients for weapons and other goods. The hylek are in most ways indistinguishable from the heket — which leads many people to beg the question “why change the name at all?” What purpose does this serve?”
• Another gameplay example from PAX East, this time in HD. The background crowd noise is a bit irritating, but this is a single player trying out a Guardian, so there’s some good views of individual and group combat, including recovering from the downed state and the use of chained skills.
• ArenaNet announces their convention schedule for the summer, including Comic-Con — July 20-24, 2011, Gamescom — Aug 17-21, 2011, and PAX — Aug 26 -28, 2011.
• Part 1 of an interview with Daniel Dociu, ArenaNet’s Art Director for Guild Wars 2. “The development team has grown a great deal, with the size of the art department having more than doubled. We’re currently in the mid 80s as far as number of artists on the team and that has lead to my role evolving into more of an oversight role. I still insist on art directing in a very hands-on fashion and still spend a fair amount of time getting my hands dirty creating concept art, but I also have to delegate a lot more. The lead artists and all artists in general are encouraged to contribute more of their own vision to the game. Growth is a mixed blessing as it creates a new set of difficulties: more structure is needed; more processes have to be implemented, policed, and massaged to fit our development culture. But it’s also more rewarding. The game we feel is going to be so much better. Bigger, better, and more beautiful.”
• GW2Guru’s exclusive interview with ArenaNet. “How this information has not been leaked yet, I do not know. It’s big, folks. And when I say big, I mean game changing big. Today, ArenaNet has given the go-ahead to release this information, so here goes. Given that the GW2 beta is scheduled for late August 2012, ArenaNet wanted to give everyone a head start on purchasing their iPads. Wait, what did you just say? That’s right, folks. Guild Wars 2 will be releasing exclusively to the iPad!”
• Revealing the seventh profession: the Shadowmancer! “The shadowmancer is a spell casting, scholar profession which is able to effectively prevent damage to itself by becoming invisible and invincible while at the same time dealing out considerable damage.”
• Revealing the eighth profession: the Commando! “A master of the battlefield, this elite soldier is equally at home on the mean streets of Lion’s Arch, in the steamy Maguuma Jungle, or on the Orrian front. The multi-role commando is a combat medic, an infiltrator, and a tank. By land, sea, or air, the commando is a technological force to be reckoned with. Come get some.”
• Interview with Jon Peters about the Commando. “Flamethrower is good in a variety of situations — you can create a basic flamethrower fire attack, but you can also air blast projectiles, create a burning area on the ground, or flame-jump around the map.”
• Another look at the Commando.
  “PC Gamer: The Commando’s motto is “if it bleeds, I can kill it.” If it’s, say, undead, and it doesn’t bleed, then can he still kill it?
  “Jon Peters: The good thing is that everything in the game can be bled, so that lets the Commando pretty much kill everything, but in future we may introduce some none bleeding types to see if that has any balance impact for him.”
• April Fool’s Day video from GuildMag.
• Interview with Eric Flannum on the Commando.

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 very quiet week compared with the last couple of information-dense weeks.

Part 1: Discussion of previous news

• Melmoth registers strong disagreement with the Guild Wars 2 design team philosophy on armour styles.
• Eliot Lefebvre: “Talking about the representation of women in video games is usually an exercise in depression. [. . .] Comparatively speaking, MMOs deserve a medal for being remarkably open to both players and characters of both genders. And yet that’s damning with faint praise in the worst way. MMOs still leave a lot to be desired when it comes to how they handle women, in ways both subtle and searingly obvious. Female characters are generally expected to be in a state of perpetual undress, more often than not without a significant role in the storyline — and precisely because the genre is so far ahead of its contemporaries, complaints are often met with eye-rolling and derision.”

Part 2: Guild Wars news

• The game update announced last week was implemented on Tuesday. I didn’t check to see if there were any changes from the pre-announcement.

• An interview with Adam Trzonkowski, author of the Guild Leader’s Companion.
  “When I started the book, there wasn’t much in print, and I felt like the whole concept was underrepresented. There weren’t a lot of outlets for people seeking advice on the internet, and few people thought to pick up a book on management to help them run their guild. You could find some good blogs, but in general, guild leaders didn’t have a lot of tools. There was also a lot of disinformation and what I call bad role models. People looked at Furor and said, “Now there is a good guild leader,” but was he really? If you modeled yourself after him, you might not necessarily succeed. I just didn’t see the right tools for the job and some of those tools felt pretty demanding. I wanted to include more general ideas and advice — general concepts that anyone can use.”

Part 3: Guild Wars 2 news

• “FUTUREPOLY, a digital arts training studio founded by ArenaNet artist Jason Stokes, is launching an eight-week long online master class on April 2 to help aspiring artists hone their craft with the help of seasoned professional artists.”
• Article about the Hylek. “Prolific and belligerent, hylek are froglike creatures that thrive in all types of water, but prefer to live in swampy areas. No matter where they claim their territory, hylek spawn in alarming quantities. Once reclusive and xenophobic, hylek can now be found farther and farther away from their spawning grounds. From the moment they’re born, hylek find themselves in a fierce competition with their brethren for food and shelter. Those who survive grow more aggressive as their bodies develop the toxins that they use to hunt their prey, protect their villages, and strike down their rivals. They are resourceful survivors, fierce warriors, and masters of poison. They are the hylek.”
• Eurogamer posts an extensive article about the Guild Wars 2 hands-on experience. “‘We don’t intend to be number two this time. We certainly have our sights set on number one.'”
  “Can ArenaNet really deliver a mature MMO from day one, made to a higher standard than the market leader and not missing a single component? It’s hard not to be sceptical, but it’s also hard not to be impressed by the team’s ambition and execution. Guild Wars 2 is already polished, innovative and fun to play.”

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.

Part 1: Discussion of previous news

• Rubi asks if ArenaNet’s introduction of Mercenary Heroes to Guild Wars is approaching the pay-to-win line.

Part 2: Guild Wars news

• There was a game update on Thursday to fix a bug that ended the “lucky weekend” early. The event will now end on Friday.
• Skill update preview. “In an update next week, we will address some PvP issues that came up as a result of our latest Dervish update. To give our tournament players time to plan ahead, we’re releasing all the skill-related update notes in advance. After the last MAT, we decided to tone down several Dervish skills that proved to be stronger than intended. Additionally, this update will address the power of Blood Magic Necromancers and some other builds that have gotten a little out of line. Finally, we will make a few small buffs to Mesmers and Elementalists.”

Part 3: Guild Wars 2 news

• Here’s a thought for you, especially if you use one of the Guild Wars wikis for more than just looking up stats: if Guild Wars 2 is going to be non-mission/non-quest in the traditional style (that is, pretty much everything in PvE play is driven by dynamic event chains), will you still find the wiki to be as useful?
• Fifteen things we learned from last week’s Guild Wars 2 combat footage: “Last week we posted a massive 10-minute long video of pure, unadulterated carnage in Guild Wars 2. Of course, the GW2 fan communities rabidly analyzed every tiny detail of the video in the hunt for new info, and we were right there in the trenches with them. In particular, we chatted with the the fans over at Guild Wars 2 Guru as they discussed and debated everything they found in our video.”
• I already mailed this one out separately: a series of Twitter updates by the GuildMag folks, and a video of the panel from which they were sending the Tweets – http://quotulatiousness.ca/blog/2011/03/13/twitter-updates-from-a-guild-wars-2-panel-at-pax-east/
• Ravious at Kill Ten Rats tries to consolidate all the information we’ve been given about the Thief class. “The best thieves are going to live on the razor’s edge having a sustained skill barrage with going as close to zero initiative as possible.”
• Randomessa pores over all the videos to discover clues to things that haven’t been directly discussed by ArenaNet. “New dynamic events will be added on the fly after the game’s release, and not publicized, for explorers to discover on their own. I have no intention of wiki-ing these.”
• “Dynamic Events” a Guild Wars 2 comic.
• Hands-on preview of the Guardian class. “The guardian is easily going to be a class that will be for masters of the game. High leveled dungeons and the hardest of missions will put the pressure on this class and make him a needed commodity. I only got a taste of this class and I am already dead set on having him as my primary character when the game arrives.”
• PAX East interview and demo. “I would be a bloody liar if I said that Guild Wars 2 wasn’t one of my major reasons for going to PAX East. I’ve been playing the original Guild Wars since the launch of GW: Factions back on April, 2006. Guild Wars is the game I always fall back on when I’m in-between games, and as a result, I’ve logged over 2,000 hours in the game. It’s safe to say I’m pretty darn excited about the sequel.”
• Martin Kerstein’s wrap-up of PAX East on the official site. “We’ve safely returned from PAX East to ArenaNet World Headquarters here in Seattle, weary but exhilarated after such an incredible show. I wanted to take a moment to share some of the highlights of our PAX East experience with you.”
• Ravious had a fascinating interview with ArenaNet staff at PAX East: “there was one dominant theme in my talks with Peters and Sharp, they are still iterating on nearly every mechanical feature in Guild Wars 2. It is important to keep in mind that even things fans “know” now because of the demo, interviews, or official articles might be obsolete on launch.”
• Top honours for two ArenaNet artists in the Spectrum 18 awards.

No, I’m not there, but the nice folks at GuildMag were sending tweets from the panel:

From a series of Twitter updates by GuildMag:

• Panel is Colin, John, Regina, Randy, Jeff, Tirzah, and Andrew! Playing the manifesto for the newbies.
• Colin introduces GW2. Yes, there is jumping. No, no monthly fee. Arenanet founded to innovate: personal story, dynamic events & combat
• Dynamic events scale with population: more mobs will spawn, or a boss will grow in power & gain new skills with more players
• No kill steals or mob tagging. All participants will gain loot and experience.
• Active combat: line of sight and positioning are important. Mobs can block projectiles or you can face the wrong way and miss
• Question: is there a way for players to know when dynamic events around the world are going on? A: yes. You can also leave before they are finished and still get rewards
• Q: do dynamic events have fast resets? A: we can’t make unlimited one time events. You may run into the same one more than once but they are scripted so the resets are longer.
• Q: how do you plan to keep people playing? A: there are different personal stories, mini games, dungeons, rated PvP for tournaments. WvW
• You can level from 1-80 in world vs world, players drop loot.
• Q: how does the game handle different levels? A: you’ll be sidekicked down in low level content or up to play with high level friends
• Q: life span of norn? A: they live into the triple digits but die from battle. Leader ?? had son at 80. They are young and vital for many years
• Q: how will you know where to go and find events? A: you can talk to scouts, they direct players. But players can just explore and find events on their own
• Q: do you plan on “mini-patching” new dynamic events? A: we have a solid live team, you can expect more content
• Dynamic event scaling AI detects participation: players can’t stand around and do nothing and get credit.
• Q: how do you avoid accidentally logging out and back into enemy territory? A: you can teleport to rally points

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.

Part 1: Discussion of previous news

• If you feel so inclined, someone is collecting responses to a short survey on Guild Wars as a thesis project.
• There’s still some life in brick-and-mortar games stores, says NCsoft.

Part 2: Guild Wars news

• One of the minor irritations about the big Guild Wars update last week was that all UI customizations got reset (this was probably caused by adding all the extra hero slots on your Inventory). Then, to compound the problem, they had to reset the UI again to fix a problem with the Mercenary Hero secondary profession.

Part 3: Guild Wars 2 news

• PC Gamer has a 10 minute clip of combat in Guild Wars 2.
• Guild Wars 2 “Behind the Scenes” interview with Daniel Dociu, Martin Kerstein, Isaiah Cartwright and Ree Soesbee. (35 minutes)
• INC Gamers picks their favourite clips from the GDC sessions.
• The folks at GuildMag lay out their plans for the PAX East show this weekend.
• Flameseeker Chronicles: Feast or Famine. “Wow! I’ve joked to other Massively staffers that some weeks I really struggle to find content for Flameseeker Chronicles, while other weeks I struggle simply to stay ahead of the information avalanche. That has never held truer than it has this weekend.”
• ArenaNet’s plans for PAX East, including the new bells and whistles for each of the revealed character classes so far.
• Isaiah Cartwright with (almost) everything you want to know about Attributes and Iteration. “We often mention iteration in interviews, at trade shows, and here on the blog. But what does it mean when we talk about the iterative process? I’d like to walk you through some changes we’ve made to the Guild Wars 2 attribute system to give you a better idea of our design philosophy.”
• Crafting in Guild Wars 2, by Andrew McLeod. “Characters can be proficient in up to two crafting disciplines at a time. We feel that this allows players to have a good variety in the items that they can craft, but still maintains player interaction and exchange. It also gives a stronger focus on the specifics of what you can craft- especially with the depth and size of each of our crafting professions.”
• A bit more on the new crafting system from Massively.
• Catch a glimpse of the thief.
• ArenaNet staff provide more details on the Thief. “The interview with Eric Flannum, Jon Peters, and Isaiah Cartwright builds on much of what we already know: dual pistols, stealth skills, stealing, and so on.”
• The updated official Thief page at the Guild Wars 2 website.
• The “ultimate” PAX-East forum thread.
• Livestream of this morning’s session with lots of interesting combat footage, featuring the Thief and the Guardian teaming up for a few dynamic events. Skip ahead about 10 minutes to the start of the actual presentation.
• (So late breaking, it missed the actual email newsletter) Thick as Thieves — a more in-depth look at the Thief class, including this insight (which, based on viewing the videos, I rather agree with) “Despite the intention of making the class as easy-to-understand as possible, the team believes that many first-time Thieves will find themselves dying horribly. Players are used to going toe-to-toe with monsters, and the Thief is built around hopping in-and-out of combat. If you don’t know when to back off, you’re going to die.”

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.

There’s been so much information this week, thanks to the early leak of information that ArenaNet intended to release next week at PAX East, that I’m dividing the newsletter into sections:

Part 1: Commentary on earlier information

• Economy and Consuming Goods — An interesting discussion thread about the Guild Wars economy (pro and con).
• Flameseeker Chronicles: Norn Week — Rubi Bayer rounds up her impressions of the “Norn Week” revelations.
• GuildMag‘s “Thalador Doomspeaker” talks about the Norn information we got during “Norn Week”.

Part 2: New information on Guild Wars

• The latest issue of GuildMag is now available for download.
• NCSoft is introducing new password security features for your Master Account. Check the page for details.
• Wartower.de video interview with John Stumme on the new (March 3rd) Guild Wars update. Includes information on “the Embark Beach Content Update, featuring the seven hero group, a new mission-hub, enhancements to the user interface, changes to pre-searing Ascalon, Titles and a new hero mechanic.”
• Summary of the GW2 Thief introduction and the March 3rd GW game update.
• Kill Ten Rats looks at the GW March 3rd update: “This update will change the game to such a degree that it might as well be Guild Wars 1.5 now.”
• FAQ on the new Mercenary Hero feature (where you can “hire out” your other characters as heroes — a nice, but potentially expensive, way to fill out your new seven-hero parties).

Part 3: New information on Guild Wars 2

• Localization for Guild Wars — Localizing is a big issue for software, especially one with as rich a selection of user interface options, text prompts, storylines, and all the rest of the things that set Guild Wars apart from other MMORPGs. I work in the software industry, and localization is one of the big ticket items for smaller companies (in this context ArenaNet counts as a small company).
• J. Robert King talks about the process of developing and writing Edge of Destiny, the second Guild Wars 2 tie-in novel.
• The next new GW2 class is officially theThief.
• Walkthrough of a new Norn Guardian’s first quest and dynamic event.
• A Thief packing twin pistols beats up the wildlife in a high-level area.
• A Thief demonstrates interesting attack skills, the downed skill, and being defeated during a high-level dynamic event.
• Massively reviews the new Thief profession.
• Even more on the Thief, including the importance of an attribute called Initiative: “Initiative regenerates at one point a second, which allows you to fight at a fairly consistent pace without letting you spam your strongest skills. There’s a profession ability (not tied to which weapon you’re using) called Roll For Initiative (ha!) that moves the Thief well away from his current position, while giving him an Initiative boost.”

Update: Guild Wars 2 Guru rounds up the links for the new profession.

Wartower.de had the opportunity to talk with John Stumme (Lead Game Designer for the Guild Wars Live-Team) about the Embark Beach Content Update, featuring the seven hero group, a new mission-hub, enhancements to the user interface, changes to pre-searing Ascalon, Titles and a new hero mechanic.