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Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2 News
Guild Wars 2: Norn Week Next Week
Feb 18th
NCSoft and Arena.Net have announced that the week of February 21-25th is Norn week for Guild Wars 2. The Norn are shape-shifting denizens of the North and there will be a lot of information, lore and a video or two released during the week.
Coming off of Guild Wars 2’s recent Human Week, NCsoft and ArenaNet would like to announce the second installment to their ongoing series dedicated to detailing the races featured in Guild Wars 2, Norn Week. This coming Monday the official ArenaNet Blog will treat players to an in-depth introduction to the shape shifting half-giants known as the Norn, and throughout the remainder of the week provide readers with additional insight from the developers on the lore, the newest art, and a new video as well.
Keep your eye on the Arena.net GW2 blog beginning Monday, February 21st.
Guild Wars 2: The Human Story
Feb 10th
Human week is continuing on the Guild Wars 2 site with new lore released about the story of humans. In addition, the team has released a new video featuring the human race as well as a short interview with the dev team. Information from the team indicates that humans are a viable race to play and have advanced technologically, politically and have reduced their dependence on the Six Gods.
Q: How are humans in Guild Wars 2 different than humans in the original game?
Eric Flannum: The humans of Tyria at the time of Guild Wars 2 are more of a melting pot than they previously were. In the first game, the various human nations tended to keep themselves separate from each other. Many of these nations no longer exist or have undergone severe hardship in the 250 years since the first game. This has caused human nations that may have once been at war with one another, such as Kryta and Ascalon, to join together into a single nation. Players got to experience the very beginning of this trend in Guild Wars: Prophecies with the founding of the Ascalon Settlement in Kryta.
Bobby Stein: In the original Guild Wars, humans were dominant. Now they More >
Guild Wars 2: New Demo Headed to PAX East
Feb 3rd
Attendees at this year's PAX East convention will have the opportunity to experience Guild Wars 2 via an entirely new demo over last year's. The new demo will debut in Boston during the convention scheduled for March 11-13, 2011. The Arena.Net team will also be on hand for a panel discussion and will be in attendance during the NCSoft Meet & Greet event on the 11th.
What would a convention be without panels? On Saturday, March 12 at PAX East, ArenaNet will host the “Guild Wars 2 – Fantasy MMO Redefined” panel. This discussion runs from 3PM to 4PM, and will feature Colin Johanson, Jon Peters, Tirzah Bauer, and more. In addition, Colin will also be part of the MMORPG.com panel “The Future of Online Games” at 5 PM at the Naga Theater. He’s a busy guy!
But that’s not all, folks. Our very own Community wizard Regina Buenaobra will be featured on two panels at PAX East this year: “What the Heck is a Community Manager?” on Friday, March 11 at 3:30 PM and “One of Us” on Sunday, March 13 at 12:00 PM. All times are subject to change, of course.
Read more here.
Guild Wars 2: Jon Peters On Combat
Feb 2nd
One of the more radical changes that Arena.Net is bringing to the MMOspace is the deconstruction of the traditional combat system. All character archetypes will have the ability to heal themselves and others. In fact, the ability is so important to creating a sustainable build that it's received a dedicated slot on the task bar. Peters goes on to discuss other combat related features including the (non)existence of ally targeting.
This is one of the big ones. There are no skills that specifically target allies. Everything must be done using positioning, ground targeting or other unconventional methods. This keeps every profession focused on their allies in the world, which adds a tactical complexity to the combat. Instead of watching red bars, we want you to watch your allies in the world. Making sure you are dropping ground-targeted spells effectively and moving into position to block attacks on allies is how we want players to defend each other.
The article definitely adds more to the idea of combat as compared to an earlier blog discussion when the Guardian archetype had to be left out of the mix. In fact, Peters declares, it was the developers' goal to remove the so-called Holy Trinity from More >
Guild Wars 2: Sketch Club App & Armor Contest
Feb 1st
Arena.Net has announced the release of a new drawing application on iTunes created specifically for the iPad. The application is called "Sketch Club" and is considered a drawing app. Sketch Club was created by Arena.Net's lead graphics programmer Jim Scott and the program contains an integrated online community for would-be artists to show off their work to one another.
And now for something completely…. EPIC! ArenaNet and Sketch Club present our first official Guild Wars 2 compo!!
For this compo you get a chance to show off your skills designing your very own Guild Wars 2 armor set! To help you get started just hit the Select image button in the Layers UI and you'll see male and female templates for this armor compo. Select either one then have a blast painting whatever sweet armor design you can come up with on top!
If you're looking for some inspiration be sure to browse through some of the amazing Guild Wars 2 concept art or read some of the lore behind the game!
Grab the iPad app here for $1.99 or head here to find out more about the app and check out some of the user-created drawings.
Ed Note: This is not an official Arena.Net or More >
Guild Wars 2: Jon Peters Talks Guardians
Jan 31st
Late last week, ArenaNet announced the latest Guild Wars 2 class: The Guardian. MMORPG.com Industry Relations Manager Garrett Fuller caught up with ArenaNet Game Designer Jon Peters to talk about the Guardian and what the class brings to the game. Check out our exclusive interview and then weigh in with your comments below.
You have not mentioned armor for the class, only weapons. Can we expect some great armor designs for this bring of justice?
We have a ton of great armor designs for the entire game and this does not leave out the guardian at all. If you like highly ornate, gruesome looking, fantastical, or even just plain vanilla plate or chain armor, each one has all the fine details you can appreciate for a long time.
Read more of Garrett Fuller's interview, Guild Wars 2: Jon Peters Talks Guardians.
Guild Wars 2: ArenaNet Reveals The Guardian
Jan 25th
As speculated last week, ArenaNet and NCSoft have officially unveiled the Guardian character class. We've got some brand new screens of the Guardian in action as well as information about special skills, weapons and virtues that this master tactician possesses. Check it out and then leave your impressions in the comments below.
“I’ll guard you. Let them come through ME first!”
The guardian is a devoted fighter who calls upon powerful virtues to smite enemies and protect allies. As dangerous with a staff as he is with a mighty two-handed hammer, a true guardian is a master tactician who knows when to sacrifice his own defenses to empower his allies to achieve victory.
Read more about the Guild Wars 2 Guardian class.
Guild Wars 2: PCGamer Outs the "Guardian" as Fifth Profession
Jan 21st
The fifth Guild Wars 2 profession was unveiled (at least in part) a bit early today in a "Top 10 of 2011" article published over at PCGamer. The reveal was later confirmed in a Tweet by PCGamer's Josh Augustine.
The fifth profession reveal looks to be the "Guardian", which is said to be the class of Logan Thackeray, one of the game's signature characters. No further details are available at the moment.
Check out the article over at PCGamer.
Guild Wars 2: The Kodan
Jan 12th
The official ArenaNet blog has been updated with a Guild Wars 2 lore piece entitled "The Wisdom and Power of the Kodan". The Kodan is a bear-like race that inhabits the northern regions. Kodan walk on two legs and approach ten feet tall. Kodan have a sophisticated culture that is amply fleshed out in this article.
The kodan do not claim any connection or relationship to the norn race, but some Voices choose to interpret early stories of a lost group of kodan as an explanation of the origin of the norn. If this is true, they argue, then the norn are failed kodan who have forgotten their place as judges and protectors of the balance, and that is why their true “bear” form has been replaced with a fragile, furless state. Because of this pressure from their shaman, the kodan often treat the norn as spiritual failures, possibly even a race moving backwards in the cycle of life, toward primitivism and destruction — and that even as the dwarves before them, if this is true, the norn are a race on the edge of extinction.
Read more here.
Guild Wars 2: 2011 – For Amusement Purposes Only
Jan 3rd
In his latest Guild Wars 2 column, MMORPG.com Industry Relations Manager Garrett Fuller reveals himself to be a betting man. His wager with you, our faithful readers, is the likelihood (or not) that Guild Wars 2 will actually see the light of day in 2011. Read Garrett's thoughts on the wager and then give your virtual betting handshake in the comments beneath.
Betting is fun. It has been going on for thousands of years. I have always said that if you put a group of guys in a room with booze, within about thirty minutes some form of game starts. About ten minutes later someone will be say the phrase “let’s bet on it.” That is kind of how the world goes. So I was thinking today on something to bet on for 2011. It’s not weight loss or some dumb reality show. It is whether or not Guild Wars 2 will launch in 2011. The game that was announced three years ago, that shook the very foundations of MMOs this past season, will it see the launch before the end of the year?
Read more Guild Wars 2: 2011 – For Amusement Purposes Only.