ArenaNet releases Guild Wars 2 trailer
by Shawn Schuster 
Aug 20th 2009 at 7:00AM
Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, New titles, Guild Wars 2
This gorgeous trailer shows everything from animated concept art to actual in-game footage. It takes us through the awakening of the dragons beneath the surface of Tyria to the call of the five races to join forces against them. We see Humans, Norn, Asura, Charr and Silvari rising up to defeat the undead armies of the dragon Zhaitan.
Check out the trailer after the jump below, or in high definition at the main Guild Wars 2 website.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Joshua said on 7:10AM 8-20-2009
Indeed we have waited for so long, and even at the small bit they have shown us I do not believe ArenaNet has or can possibly let us down. They listen to us and actually do something when the community speaks, this game will be epic on a level not yet know in the fantasy MMO genre.
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christopher gill said on 7:10AM 8-20-2009
Im so excited about this game
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GaaaaaH said on 7:11AM 8-20-2009
Let the excitement roll!
Arnie said on 9:54AM 8-20-2009
I shed a single tear of joy. It exists, its beautiful, its guild wars 2 & god I wish this game comes out tmw.
UltimateQ said on 10:30AM 8-20-2009
Allow me to join your band wagon. Excitement +1.
Rayingri said on 3:03PM 8-20-2009
+1 *.*
Nearly droped a tear of joy there!
Holink said on 7:14AM 8-20-2009
The trailer is nothing short of impressive. The music, artwork and those absolutely stunning environments just got me all fired up about this game.
GW 1 is the best Online experience i've ever had. This trailer makes me believe GW 2 will be even more epic.
Too bad it lacks gameplay and next to no info was released about it. Still i'll wait patiently and enjoy other MMOs until this little baby is released.
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Black2key said on 7:26AM 8-20-2009
oh my god D: i always wanted to play gw.
When I start with gw2, do i understand the lore? or do i have to play gw1?
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Joshua said on 7:29AM 8-20-2009
I suggest you play GW1 though this takes place quite some time after the events of EOTN some background probably wouldn't hurt also being that GW1 is an awesome game and free to play..
LostSoviet said on 11:28AM 8-20-2009
You will be able to "pick up & play" GW2 with no knowledge of GW1. GW1 players will have "bragging rights" over you as their accomplishments can be placed into the Hall of Monuments (in Eye of the North), but as ANet is *extremely* dedicated to game balance you won't miss out on any game-breaking things. The exact rewards are not known right now, but (given past tendencies) they'll probably be exclusive armor/weapon skins or displayable "heritage" titles. If this is something you can't live without, you'll always be able to buy GW1, link accounts and grind up the old titles for your GW2 character to inherit.
And if you want to get into GW lore without buying GW1, ANet has planned a series of novels to cover the game-world developments between GW1 & GW2.
Amana said on 7:33AM 8-20-2009
I swear, ArenaNet have some of the most talented concept and design artists of anywhere I can think of. Not only from the GW1 days, but the artwork and in-game environments shown in this video are incredible in my opinion.
I took a few things from the trailer:
- clearly there will be a 'technology' bent in the game (fantastic)
- the trailer takes us underwater (I'm hoping that's a nod to existing players to say we can adventure there now)
- their designers and developers have quite obviously been furiously hard at work for the past 2 years, given the amount of detail and stunning design seen in those few environment shots (simply incredible, unique and interesting)
- I love how the music/soundtrack evolves into the signature Guild Wars theme, which hopefully means they've retained Jeremy Soule for the soundtrack
This is the most exciting news I've been subject to for some time.
I just can't wait.
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Adrian said on 7:38AM 8-20-2009
There was a question and answer with some of the GW2 Devs after the trailer premiere, and they confirmed underwater stuff.
Amana said on 7:48AM 8-20-2009
Many thanks Adrian - that's fantastic news.
Adrian said on 7:51AM 8-20-2009
My pleasure. Just racking my brains to see what else I can remember from the Q&A. I'm sure they said everyone will be able to get firearms.
HackJack said on 7:40AM 8-20-2009
Pure.Epicness.
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MCRaider said on 7:42AM 8-20-2009
This is absolutely stunning, the art, environment, the look of the game. Arenanet did an amazing job with GW1 and was and still is one of the best games I have ever played.
My one downside that I did see from the trailer is that the game will continue to be instanced, which is unfortunate. I would love to see an open world however I do not think we would appreciate our surroundings if it was open.
As for everything else, like Amana said, looks to be amazing. The technology class looks to be very fun, the game looks great for being 2 maybe 3 years into development.
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Warbie said on 7:49AM 8-20-2009
It is all open world, but storyline missions will be instanced.
MCRaider said on 7:55AM 8-20-2009
I played GW1 so I know how the missions work, but are we going to see one main hum instead of hubs 1-20 (example).? Or is Arenanet sticking with the same system of having X-number of people in a hub area then opening a new instance/zone?
Amana said on 8:06AM 8-20-2009
The FAQ on the official site has this to say about it:
Will Guild Wars 2 be an MMO?
Yes. Guild Wars 2 provides a massive, online persistent world.
How is Guild Wars 2 different from other MMOs?
While Guild Wars 2 adds a persistent-world experience, it retains the unique characteristics of the original game, including strong narrative, extensive instanced gameplay, anti-grind design philosophy, and strong support for competitive play.
What catches my eye is the multiple use of the term 'persistent', yet at the same time they describe their instanced-gameplay as 'extensive'.
I guess we'll learn more about it's design specifics as time goes by, but I'd sure love to know how they're going to handle it this time around. I think I'd squee myself to death if I knew it was going to be a totally open world, with missions and story arcs effectively being 'instances'..
=)
Shawn Schuster said on 8:33AM 8-20-2009
I would imagine the extensive instancing is in the form of dungeons, while the rest is persistent. Eye of the North was our primer for GW2, to see how we'd react to robots, technology and dungeons. I can't wait for this game :)