arenanet posts

NCsoft taking first visible steps to improve security

by Rubi Bayer Dec 23rd 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Server downtime, News items, Free-to-play

Back at the end of November, we talked about the ongoing security issues affecting Guild Wars players. ArenaNet has been assuring players that they are working hard on the problem, and Monday evening the community saw the first fruits of that labor. Players saw a message in their chat windows that most of them have never seen before: "The Guild Wars servers will be taken offline momentarily for required maintenance."

It was a quick change, but once it happened, players logging in saw a surprising addition to the login screen. Besides the usual username and password combination, you now have to correctly enter the name of any character on your account before you are able to log in.

ArenaNet posted a FAQ on their site along with the update and Community Manager Regina Buenaobra interacted heavily with the community immediately afterward, logging in to Guild Wars to discuss the change with players (and presumably be asked a few hundred questions about Guild Wars 2.) She also spent time on the main fan forum sites, addressing concerns, clarifying the reasoning behind some decisions, and passing some well-deserved thanks from players on to the ANet team.

While not everyone is satisfied -- and when are they ever? -- this first step is a very welcome one to most players, and we look forward to seeing more.

Tags: Account-Security, arenanet, guild-wars, gw, hacking, ncsoft, regina-buenaobra

Massively's Guild Wars costume set giveaway

by Shawn Schuster Dec 21st 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Giveaways

With this year's Wintersday in Guild Wars comes quite a few new features to the game. One of the most significant is the costuming system. These costumes allow your character to dress as they like with costumes that fit into special costume slots, not affecting your normal armor stats.

Sound like something you'd be interested in trying? Great! Because we have ten of these costumes to give away to our loyal readers. Simply reply to this post before 8am EST on December 23rd stating which costume you'd like -- either Dwayna or Grenth. We will pick and notify five random winners for each set (for a total of ten winners) on December 23rd. The giveaway is open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec), and everyone who enters must be 18 or older. You may enter only once, and any comments without Grenth or Dwayna will be ignored. The retail value of each costume set is $6.99 USD. Click here to read the official Joystiq Network contest rules. Follow along after the jump for a description of each costume, and complete instructions on how to claim your code if you're chosen as a lucky winner.

[Edit: Comments are now closed.]

Tags: arenanet, costume, costumes, dwayna, giveaways, grenth, guild-wars, ncsoft, Regalia

The dangers of PvP-focused games

by Eliot Lefebvre Dec 21st 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Game mechanics, PvP, Opinion, Academic

The trouble with PvP is... well, there are several problems with PvP. The problems of balance are always there, of course, as they are in every aspect of the game. There are the problems of making PvP both accessible to new players and rewarding for veterans, their are issues with keeping people engaged in the game without being gimmicky, there are issues with even such little things as how players get equipment. But as Scott Jennings notes in his most recent column, a lot of the problems with PvP-centric games center around perceptions -- both those of the players, and those of the developers.

Developers who make PvP-centric games frequently are players of games themselves, of course, and so when they strike off to make a game with "PvP done right" they can sometimes fall victim to tunnel vision regarding their game. (Jennings cites Shadowbane, Darkfall, and Fury as examples here.) But there's also a problem of perception from the player end, as whether or not a class is overpowered often pales in comparison to whether or not the players believe it's overpowered. From Guild Wars to EVE Online, every PvP game has had to contend with these issues, so it would be well-advised to take a look at the full column if you're at all interested in the design of games.

Tags: arenanet, ccp-games, darkfall, developer-perception, eve, eve-online, fury, guild-wars, gw, lum-the-mad, player-perception, pvp, pvp-balance, pvp-focus, pvp-games, scott-jennings, shadowbane, trammel

Guild Wars adds costumes just in time for Wintersday

by Rubi Bayer Dec 18th 2009 at 11:30AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, News items, Free-to-play

Last night's fairly sizable patch in Guild Wars was a bit of a surprise to players who weren't expecting any Wintersday updates until today, and a quick round of "What was that?" throughout the game led to the discovery of a big surprise from ArenaNet: costumes! In what is hopefully the first of many, special Grenth and Dwayna Wintersday costumes are now available in the NCsoft store.

Each version can be purchased for $6.99 US in the store, but NCsoft has an introductory deal until January 17th -- both sets for $9.99. The costumes are account-wide, headpieces are included, they can be dyed, and you'll get both male and female versions so none of your characters are left out. The costumes are purely cosmetic and can be worn over your existing armor without a change in stats, so feel free to charge into battle dressed as Grenth to put a little extra fear into your opponents.

A brand new feature like this one is bound to bring an avalanche of questions from players, so we suggest you start with the costume FAQ before heading over to the NCsoft store.

Tags: arenanet, costumes, Dwayna, Grenth, guild-wars, ncsoft, ncsoft-store, wintersday-costumes

Best Buy offers Guild Wars Trilogy for $14.99 -- why you need to buy it

by Rubi Bayer Dec 17th 2009 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, News items, Free-to-play

In case you haven't heard, Best Buy is offering the Guild Wars Trilogy at a serious discount this week. $14.99 for Guild Wars: Prophecies, Factions, and Nightfall. Since the game is free-to-play, a one-time price of $15 for all three games is a powerful incentive to check out the game as a new player. But what if you're a longtime player who loves a bargain? Are you staring at the offer, thinking "Oh man, $14.99. I really don't NEED another account, but..." Never fear, for we are here to help justify your purchase with our "ten things to do with an extra Guild Wars account."

1. PvP against yourself.
2. Hide all your stuff until the hacking issue is sorted out.
3. Pick up more presents from Nicholas the Traveler.
4. More Xunlai tournament points...wait, never mind.
5. Lots of extra storage at a fraction of the price.
6. Got friends in two different guilds and torn on which one to stick with? Put an account in both!
7. Lend yourself three more heroes if you're feeling particularly antisocial.
8. Run your alts places.
9. Use up all of those great character names that you thought up but didn't have the character slots for.
10. Do Tihark Orchard and Chahbek Village on even MORE characters.

We're sure you can think up even more reasons to make the purchase -- if it helps, they even offer a "Great Financing Offer" if you need to spread your payments over 18 months. So pick up a little Christmas gift for yourself. Enjoy!

Tags: arenanet, best-buy, guild-wars, guild-wars-factions, guild-wars-nightfall, guild-wars-prophecies, guild-wars-trilogy

ArenaNet gives us a sneak peek at the voices of Guild Wars 2

by Krystalle Voecks Dec 17th 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Video, New titles, Previews, News items, Guild Wars 2

Just when you thought we'd already gotten our excellent holiday treat from ArenaNet in the form of that amazingly gorgeous Guild Wars 2 trailer, they decided to add in a behind-the-scenes video for us to enjoy! This new video titled "Giving Tyria a Voice" offers a look at the people making the characters of Guild Wars 2 come alive. Additionally, we're treated to their thoughts on what their characters are all about -- shedding a bit more light on what we can look forward to in terms of story and atmosphere. When coupled with the art from the recently released races trailer, this is a must-watch video for anyone curious about how the game is progressing.

The voice talent tagged for Guild Wars 2 is an amazing lineup of well-known, veteran voice actors. The people we meet in this trailer are Steve Blum, Troy Baker, Kari Wahlgren and geektastic favorite, Felicia Day, one of the stars of The Guild. With a rich pool of talent like this, coupled with award-winning artists and a studio dedicated to creating top-notch content for their fans, Guild Wars 2 is definitely shaping up to be an incredible game. But don't take our word for it -- check out the behind-the-scenes video from ArenaNet we've conveniently included after the break!

Tags: arenanet, behind-the-scenes, felicia-day, guild-wars-2, gw2, kari-wahlgren, ncsoft, preview, steve-blum, troy-baker, video

ArenaNet offers Guild Wars holiday papercraft patterns

by Rubi Bayer Dec 8th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Fan art, Free-to-play

Remember April Fools Day in Guild Wars earlier this year when we all turned into excruciatingly cute Chibi Gwen dolls? And the Nicholas the Traveler feeding frenzy when word got around he was handing out Chibi Gwen minipets? If you love the uber-cute little figurine and just can't have enough adorableness, ArenaNet can help you out.

Chibi Gwen is the first in a series of holiday papercrafts that Guild Wars fans can download the patterns for. Every Tuesday this month, ANet will release a new pattern for a special Guild Wars themed paper model. Upcoming patterns are a secret, but there is a pretty broad hint as to the last one: "We won't tell you what it is, but save room at the top of your tree!" Hmm, what winged, angelic figure would go nicely at the top of a Christmas tree?

At any rate, the pattens can be found all month on the official site, and are a fun way to add a bit of Guild Wars flair to your home.

Tags: arenanet, chibi-gwen, guild-wars, gw, gwen, holiday-2009, holiday-papercrafts

Analyzing the newest Guild Wars 2 trailer

by Rubi Bayer Dec 4th 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, New titles, News items, Guild Wars 2, Races

ArenaNet has a very early, very wonderful holiday gift for Guild Wars fans this morning: a brand new Guild Wars 2 trailer. (Take a moment to cheer, then we'll move on.) The trailer is amazingly beautiful, something we've come to expect from ArenaNet and particularly Guild Wars 2. But if you don't let yourself get distracted by the eye candy -- something that is admittedly hard to do -- there is a lot of new information here, including more details on people and places we've already heard of, and some fascinating possibilities to explore.

Take a look at the video here, then follow along with us as we explore this new information from ArenaNet. If you're unfamiliar with Guild Wars 2, this will help you get acquainted, but we also have some deep lore speculation for current Guild Wars fans. (The video can also be found at the official Guild Wars 2 site.)

Tags: arenanet, asura, Breaking, BreakingNews, charr, guild-wars, Guild-Wars-2, guild-wars-2-trailer, human, norn, sylvari, the-races-of-tyria

Guild Wars Wintersday 2009 art contest announced

by Rubi Bayer Dec 2nd 2009 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Contests, News items, Free-to-play

Wintersday is approaching in Guild Wars, and with it comes grentches, snowmen, candy canes, and the frenzied hunt for the elusive Mini Polar Bear.

We'll explore the festivities more later this month, but in the meantime ArenaNet has officially begun the Wintersday Art Contest. Put your creative energies to use while you wait for Wintersday to arrive and create some holiday art with a Guild Wars twist.

Three top winners will receive "The Art of Guild Wars 2" signed by the development team, a signed art print from PAX 2008, and a brand new everlasting reindeer tonic. Seven more winners will receive the PAX art print and reindeer tonic, and ten honorable mentions will receive the reindeer tonic.

(It should probably go without saying, but it's a good idea not to plagarize anything for this contest. It won't end well.)

Full entry details can be found here, so good luck to all of you!

Tags: arenanet, guild-wars, gw, holiday-2009, wintersday, wintersday-2009, wintersday-art-contest

Guild Wars account security issues continue

by Rubi Bayer Nov 30th 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Culture, Economy, Free-to-play

If you play Guild Wars, you're undoubtedly a little paranoid about your account these days. Back in mid-October, posts on forums and wiki pages began popping up, all with a similar theme: "I've been hacked."

These incidents quickly gained attention in the Guild Wars community because of the very similar methods used and rapid succession of the incidents. Before long ArenaNet staff had stepped in to assure players they were aware, concerned, and working on it, and were able to release a bit of information. Support Liaison Gaile Gray revealed that "one of the trading sites associated with Guild Wars may have experienced a security breach and its account database (including user names and passwords) may be in the hands of hackers." The statement predictably invited extensive speculation, but at least told players that ArenaNet was making progress in their search.

For the time being, ArenaNet continues to work on the problem and players continue to get their accounts looted. (As of this writing the most recent reported incident was Sunday.) The issue continues to be widespread, with one alliance reporting at least eleven members hacked. It probably goes without saying, but while ANet sorts things out players can lower their risk a bit by changing their passwords and taking another look at the account security suggestions, if they haven't already.

Best of luck to ArenaNet in solving the problem soon!

Tags: account-security, arenanet, gaile-gray, guild-wars, gw, hacking

Massively's Black Friday MMO sales guide

by Kyle Horner Nov 26th 2009 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Events, real-world, News items

The holidays are officially here (if you're a retail chain, then they've been here for about a month) and so it's time to start looking for deals to give to either your MMO-playing loved ones or, well, yourself! Shopping can be a pretty big hassle, especially if you're not accustomed to hunting for the best deals. So, we've gone and outlined the season's new releases, as well as some places you can hope to find sales in the coming weeks.

Tags: amazon, arenanet, ccp, d2d, direct2drive, dominion, eve-online, featured, guild-wars, lotro, ncsoft, nexon, nexon-america, sales, siege-of-mirkwood, steam, thanksgiving, turbine, valve

ArenaNet co-founder Jeff Strain opens new studio

by Rubi Bayer Nov 23rd 2009 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Horror, MMO industry, New titles, News items

Remember Jeff Strain? His August departure from ArenaNet was big news, and we haven't heard a lot from him lately. We found out today what he's been up to, and we couldn't be happier.

Jeff Strain has a shiny (slimy?) new project just officially announced today. Undead Labs is his new studio, which is already at work planning a zombie MMO -- more specifically, a zombie-console-MMO. To quote the Undead Labs site, "Zombie MMO! Hell yeah!" Of course, we already have a million questions, but he was kind enough to answer many of them well in advance. (Points to him for anticipating them and spelling it out right up front, and for making us laugh.)

It's early days yet so we don't have a laundry list of specific details and screenshots, but the site already shows a departure from the traditional way of doing things when it comes to MMO development. A look around Undead Labs sets the tone right off, beginning with the aforementioned answers to questions, and continuing with a fairly amusing etiquette guide. Strain and Undead Labs look to be off to a running start with things, and we are going to be keeping a close eye on the impending zombie apocalypse.

Tags: arena-net, arenanet, Breaking, breaking-news, jeff-strain, new-titles, undead-labs

Guild Wars updates Halloween quest, bringing permanant changes

by Rubi Bayer Nov 22nd 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, Free-to-play

We can all stop making "Waiting for Godot" (Godhuum?) jokes. Thursday evening ArenaNet quietly updated "The Waiting Game", the Guild Wars quest we all picked up back around Halloween. Dhuum is awake, he's not happy, and the Shadow Form debate rages on.

The update to The Waiting Game revealed that Dhuum will appear once all of the Underworld quests have been completed, and defeating him is now required to "complete" the Underworld. With a skill set including things like "Judgement of Dhuum", this new addition to the Underworld is most likely the challenge that bored Guild Wars players have been looking for.

Shadow Form continues to be a hot topic, however. Many players expected this to be the thing that put an end to Shadow Form Underworld farming, but one of the earliest reported successes proved that wrong very quickly. Players responded quickly with one commenter summing up many people's thoughts: "It's...disappointing that even a God of Unholy Death can't bypass shadowform...". (Community Manager Regina Buenaobra stepped in to mention that the goal was new content, not a nerf of SF farming.)

In the meantime, Dhuum seems to be the biggest challenge around in Guild Wars -- kudos to ArenaNet for the new content!

Tags: arenanet, dhuum, Game-Mechanics, guild-wars, shadow-form, the-waiting-game, underworld

One Shots: Bark at the moon

by Krystalle Voecks Nov 19th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Guild Wars, One Shots

With Halloween now giving way to Thanksgiving next week in the United States, we figured it was a great time to show this one last Halloween image we recieved from Guild Wars. Thorband caught this image of his character howling at the lunatic moon during the recent Mad King celebration. The other thing we really dig about this image is the lovely fall colors, like those of a roasting turkey -- and of course, tasty pumpkin pie. Mmm, pie.

We love holidays in MMOs almost as much as we love pie -- maybe even more, depending on the game! So if you have a chance to grab some holiday celebration screenshots while you're out and about, please send some our way! We love to see what's up in the different worlds out there. All you have to do is email them to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post them out here and give you the love.

Gallery: One Shots

Tags: arenanet, guild-wars, gw, ncsoft, one-shots, screenshot, screenshots, thorband

NCsoft hints at Guild Wars 2 beta in 2010, launch in 2011

by Rubi Bayer Nov 10th 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, News items, Guild Wars 2

Fans of Guild Wars have been waiting for well over two years for Guild Wars 2, ever since ArenaNet fired up the hype machine in a big way back in March of 2007. Anet announced Guild Wars 2 and Eye of the North at the same time, and anticipated that the beta for GW2 would arrive in the second half of 2008.

Since the announcement, the Guild Wars player base has become intimately familiar with various versions of the phrases "We haven't released that information" and "TBA", punctuated occasionally with new information.

While the bits of information given here and there add up to something relatively substantial, fans are still asking the big question: When? Obviously the planned 2008 beta didn't happen, and now fans will have to wait a bit longer.

CEO Jaeho Lee referred to GW2 and Blade and Soul in a recent conference call with investors: "I believe there will be certain public events in the year 2010... at least a closed beta test for those titles. Commercialisation will be expected, at this point, probably some time in the year 2011."

At least fans have plenty of time and motivation to finish filling their Hall of Monuments. Silence and delays aside, when Guild Wars 2 finally arrives, most fans trust ArenaNet to give them something well worth the wait.

Tags: arenanet, beta, guild-wars, guild-wars-2, GuildWars, gw, gw2, jaeho-lee, ncsoft