guild-wars-2 posts

Guild Wars announces art contest winners

by Rubi Bayer Nov 2nd 2009 at 9:00AM

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

At the beginning of October, Guild Wars announced that their annual Halloween art contest was open for entries. After sorting through hundreds of submissions, they announced the winners on Friday. As always, fan creativity shone in the form of costumes, lawn decorations, drawings, carved pumpkins, and even a ceramic siege turtle that fires pumpkins instead of jade.

ArenaNet seemed very happy with this year's entries: "We were so impressed by both the Halloween spirit and the quality of artistic talent in our community that it was hard to choose only ten winners and ten honorable mentions."

Twenty winners were chosen from the submissions for some great prizes. The top three winners scored a signed copy of The Art of Guild Wars 2, the top ten received a signed Guild Wars art print, and all twenty winners won an exclusive Mad King's Guard minipet. Congratulations to all of the winners!

Tags: arenanet, guild-wars, Guild-Wars-2, gw, halloween-2009, halloween-art-contest, ncsoft-europe

ArenaNet grants wish to heart transplant patient

by Rubi Bayer Nov 1st 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Culture, Events, real-world, Guild Wars 2

Emily is a high school junior diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, who is having a pretty good 2009 in spite of that. She received a heart transplant earlier this year, as well as a little pick-me-up from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Emily became a Guild Wars fan last year while waiting for her heart transplant and during her recovery afterward. She spent a lot of time in Tyria while living in the hospital.

Just last week Make-A-Wish arranged for Emily to travel to Seattle and visit the ArenaNet offices, making her the envy of a few million fans. She spent her morning touring the offices, meeting the staff, learning about what they do, and even meeting with the section heads to discuss her likes and dislikes about Guild Wars. After lunch, time to spend a few hours playing Guild Wars 2 with the ArenaNet team. That's right, Emily got an up close and personal look at the game, giving feedback and making suggestions from a fan's point of view. The best part came at the end: "They pulled us aside and asked if she could stay a couple of extra hours. They convened a group of their eight senior designers and Emily, and they asked Emily to help them design an "Event" for the game."

So when we finally get our hands on GW2, there will be a little something from Emily in there. Congratulations from Massively, Emily, and we wish you continued health.

Tags: arenanet, guild-wars, Guild-Wars-2, Make-A-Wish, ncsoft

Fourth annual MMO calendar now on sale

by Rubi Bayer Oct 24th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Culture, MMO industry, News items

It's that time of year again - the MMO Calendar for 2010 is on sale. MMO Calendar is a yearly project created as a non-profit fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. The calendar features original art from 12 different current and upcoming MMOs, and 100% of the purchase price of every calendar is donated to St. Jude.

This year's calendar includes artwork from:

It promises to be a gorgeous calendar, but just in case the art alone isn't enough to convince you, purchasing the calendar will get you entered in a drawing for one of ten prizes including closed beta access, subscriptions, and boxed game sets. Calendars will be shipped by December 5th and the prize drawing is December 7th, so visit MMO Calendar to order yours!

Tags: age-of-conan, calendar, culture, dungeons-and-dragons-online, eve-online, everquest-2, everquest-ii, free-realms, Guild-Wars-2, lord-of-the-rings-online, mmo-calendar, runes-of-magic, runescape, the-secret-world, Warhammer-Online, world-of-warcraft

Win yourself a Guild Wars 2 art book from Massively

by Shawn Schuster Oct 13th 2009 at 12:30PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Contests, Lore, Guild Wars 2, Massively meta, Giveaways

During PAX this summer, ArenaNet announced a new art book, showcasing the amazing talent that they've somehow been able to harness all in one studio. This book was given away at the convention and is now sold at their Penny Arcade or NCsoft online store, but will not be available anywhere else. That's why we're extra happy to announce that we're giving one away to a lucky winner this week.

As part of our commitment to never accept gifts from publishers, we're giving away this art book (valued at $30) in a random drawing. To enter, simply reply to this post between now and Friday, October 16th at 8am EDT. At that time, a winner will be chosen and contacted. Limit one entry per person. Winners must 18+ and live in the US or Canada (excluding Quebec). Check out our complete contest rules page for more information on eligibility.

Before we pry our hands from this coveted hardcover book, we took some photos of a few pages to let you know what you're trying for. Follow along in the gallery below for only a sample of what to expect.

[Update: Comments are now closed, winner to be contacted shortly]

Gallery: Guild Wars 2 Art Book

Tags: arenanet, art-book, breaking, breakingnews, giveaway, guild-wars-2, gw2, ncsoft

The top five Guild Wars features we take for granted

by Rubi Bayer Oct 12th 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Business models, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Guild Wars 2, Free-to-play

Guild Wars was my introduction into MMO gaming. My husband heard of it on a podcast and decided to check it out. I got curious, asked him if I could try it, and never looked back. My outgoing, chatty personality combined with my love of computer games made MMO gaming an irresistible new world to explore. With all the recent (long-awaited) news of Guild Wars 2, this seemed like a great time to take a look back at some of the features of Guild Wars that are rarely found in other games of its type.

Tags: arenanet, featured, guild-wars, guild-wars-2, gw, ncsoft

Guild Wars 2 blending RTS with PvP

by Kyle Horner Oct 7th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: New titles, PvP, News items, Guild Wars 2

Kill Ten Rats recently picked up some interesting information regarding PvP in Guild Wars 2. Essentially, world PvP will be mimicking the RTS model. Resources such as stone mines can be conquered by players and will deliver stone to catapults by caravan. These deliveries can be intercepted by enemy players unless manned watchtowers are defending your roads and scouts are keeping track of enemy forces. Or, as ArenaNet put it, players can simply look for lost PvPers and smack them around a bit.

Complex is the operative word here, as making this system work with large numbers of players will be almost as difficult as making it work with very few. Plus, developers will be dealing with all the regular idiosyncrasies associated with grouping in an MMO such as PUGs, communication and unruly parents demanding for chores or homework to be completed. Even all that considered, we hope they can pull it off so we can reap the fun.

If you're looking for more information on Guild Wars 2, check out our recent interview with ArenaNet.

Tags: arenanet, guild-wars, guild-wars-2, gw, gw2, kill-ten-rats, ncsoft, pvp, real-time-strategy, realtime-strategy, rts

Guild Wars 2 art book to not be included in the collector's edition

by Seraphina Brennan Sep 24th 2009 at 1:00PM

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Business models, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Guild Wars 2, Free-to-play

If you've been keeping your eye on that very gorgeous artbook that's currently residing in the Guild Wars 2 store/Penny Arcade store but have been holding off on your purchase, you might want to reconsider. ArenaNet has recently confirmed, via Twitter, that the art book in the Penny Arcade store will not be coming with the Guild Wars 2 collector's edition box.

So if you were really looking forward to this artbook, looks like you're going to have to put down the 30 dollars and pick it up separately. On the bright side, it's a hardbound 128 page book of what looks to be some really beautiful art.

As to what will be included in the collector's edition, well, your guess is as good as ours right now. ArenaNet is being tight lipped on those features, and it looks like we're just going to have to wait.

Tags: arenanet, art, artbook, collectors-edition, guild-wars, guild-wars-2, gw2, penny-arcade, penny-arcade-store, twitter

Massively's interview with ArenaNet: Let's talk Guild Wars 2

by Shawn Schuster Sep 17th 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, Guild Wars 2, Massively Interviews

While the internet collectively recovers from the new Guild Wars 2 trailer, released during GamesCom earlier this month, we jumped at the chance to interview the creative geniuses behind the upcoming title. ArenaNet's Eric Flannum, Lead Designer, Ree Soesbee, World Designer/Writer and Will McDermott, Writer all answered our barrage of questions.

Follow along after the jump to learn more about the GW2 business model, evil Sylvari, plans to have multiple servers and much more!

Tags: arenanet, eric-flannum, featured, guild-wars-2, gw2, interview, ncsoft, q-and-a, ree-soesbee, will-mcdermott

PAX 2009: ArenaNet offers a variety of videos for fans at home

by Krystalle Voecks Sep 16th 2009 at 7:30PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Guild Wars, Events, real-world, New titles, News items, Guild Wars 2

While we've brought you all manner of tasty insights and asides into what happened at PAX 2009 this year, there's something to be said for being able to catch the panels yourself. Knowing full well that their fans were going to go completely berserk when they heard all the juicy details about Guild Wars 2, ArenaNet has gone to great lengths to make sure to record all of their panels at PAX 2009 for you to check out. How awesome is that?

The topics for this year were two completely different question and answer panels on the Art of Guild Wars 2, an insightful talk with the Guild Wars Live team who currently take care of the game, and a really interesting panel on the Fall of Ascalon novel that will give us the backstory between Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2. So if you weren't able to make it, be sure to check out the other half of the above lore video behind the jump, then head over to ArenaNet's official video channel to enjoy the rest!

Tags: arenanet, art, guild-wars, guild-wars-2, live-team, lore, panels, pax-2009, video

NCSoft sells over 300,000 Aion pre-orders

by Brooke Pilley Sep 15th 2009 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Interviews, News items

There's an interesting interview with Véronique Lallier -- NCSoft's managing director of publishing -- over at GamesIndustry.biz that reveals Aion has sold over 300,000 pre-orders so far. Not too shabby if you ask us. The interview also covers a lot of what's been going on over the past year with NC West, NCSoft's 'umbrella' for their western subsidiaries.

The main goal of NC West is to give the company a stronger foothold in European and North American markets. Now based out of Seattle, employees can be closer to their players and be more responsive to their needs. Stepping back from their original strategy of making casual games, the Seattle studio is also focused on making more triple-A MMOs for the West. What's on the horizon for NCSoft? Apparently, we can expect to hear more about Guild Wars 2 next year and their Korean studio is working on Blade & Soul, which they claim has even better graphics than Aion. There are a number of unannounced titles as well.

We should have the results of our own Aion interview with NCSoft out shortly, so make sure to stay tuned for that.

Tags: aion, blade-and-soul, gamesindustry.biz, guild-wars-2, gw2, interview, nc-west, ncsoft, seattle, veronique-lallier

GW2 interview with Jeff Grubb goes deep into lore

by Brooke Pilley Sep 9th 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Interviews, Lore, Guild Wars 2

If you're a Guild Wars lore-junkie, we have found the perfect Guild Wars 2 interview for you. Ravious over at Kill Ten Rats claims he can talk GW lore for hours and after reading the deep questions he put forth to ArenaNet World Designer and Writer Jeff Grubb, we'll take his word for it.

If you're looking for information about instancing, world PvP, and progression rates, this isn't the interview for you. If, however, it makes you giddy that one of either the Bahltek, undeciphered Asuran banner, or giganticus lupicus will be further explained in GW2, then it might be right up your alley. Jeff also drops some hints about the origins of humans, the dragon prophet Glint, the complex relationship between the world of Tyria, the human gods, and dragons, and a number of other things. The anticipation for everything GW2 related is heating up, so stay tuned to Massively as our very own Shawn Schuster will be speaking with someone from ArenaNet soon.

Tags: arenanet, glint, guild-wars, guild-wars-2, gw, gw2, interview, jeff-grubb, kill-ten-rats, lore

The art of Guild Wars 2 to be available in book form

by Kyle Horner Aug 28th 2009 at 10:00AM

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

Feeling in an artsy mood? Then you'll be happy to know that Guild Wars 2 now has a forthcoming official art book entitled The Art of Guild Wars 2. The book will be hardbound and stuffed with 128 pages of work by ArenaNet's award-winning artists.

The official website touts that this book is a must-have for Guild Wars fans. If the concept art available online is any indication, that doesn't really seem like an overstatement. We wouldn't be too shy about putting some of these pieces of art on our walls in a nice frame, so huge a hardbound art book wouldn't be such a bad coffee table item. If you don't believe us, just take a look at the gallery.

Gallery: Guild Wars 2 concept art

Tags: arenanet, art-book, concept-art, guild-wars, guild-wars-2, gw2, ncsoft

NCsoft announces its PAX plans

by Lesley Smith Aug 26th 2009 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Aion, City of Heroes, Events, real-world, MMO industry, News items, Guild Wars 2, Hands-on

It's nearly September which means the Penny Arcade Expo is swiftly approaching. Taking place between September 4th-6th in Seattle, PAX is fast becoming the new must-attend convention for all sections of the industry, from developers to publishers and gamers. NCsoft has just announced their plans for this year's convention and this focuses on their three big IPs: Aion, Guild Wars 2 and City of Heroes.

NCsoft will once again have booths at the event, one per game. On the Aion front, they will be showing the latest build of the game, which includes patch 1.5 (aka The Shadow of the Balaur). Producer Brian Knox and Associate Producer Lani Blazier will also be on hand at booth #642. At the Guild Wars 2 booth (#842), there will be Q and As with the Live Team, a talk on the upcoming novel The Fall of Ascalon and the chance to win a 128 page Art of Guild Wars 2 artbook. Finally at the City of Heroes booth (#542) you can take a peek at the new update ("Power Spectrum") and nab a special PAX Costume Power code. There will also be a player meet up on the Saturday night (September 5th) hosted by the Online Community Relations team, for more information on that click here.

Tags: aion, aion-patch-1.5, aion-the-shadow-of-the-balaur, aion-the-tower-of-eternity, aion-tower-of-eternity, brian-knox, city-of-heroes, guild-wars-2, lani-blazier, ncsoft, ncsoft-north-america, pax, pax-2009, penny-arcade-expo, penny-arcade-expo-2009, power-spectrum

Will Guild Wars 2 be your holy grail?

by Shawn Schuster Aug 25th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, Opinion, Guild Wars 2

We've all seen the brand new Guild Wars 2 trailer from last week, right? The one that starts out with lightly-animated concept art, but eventually breaks into actual in-game footage? That in-game footage caused one of the strangest sounds to erupt from the Guild Wars fan community: a mix of a sigh and a squee. It's quite a unique sound. You should try it.

With so much time being taken between our last bit of news and this full-blown trailer, GW fans were beginning to seriously lose hope. I have been an advocate for Guild Wars 2 since the day it was announced, although I did have some reservations about the divulged game mechanics at first. It seemed ArenaNet was giving up on its unique approach to online games and what the founders learned at Blizzard, and converting it into every other MMO out there. The original Guild Wars broke so much ground that it literally raised a new generation of gamers. Solved were the problems of finding a group, grinding for XP, discovering which server your friends played on and camping spawns. Guild Wars popularized the solutions to these problems and offered them in a streamlined package that didn't cost you a dime each month. It's exactly what many gamers were waiting for to get them into the MMO space, including myself.

Tags: arenanet, featured, guild-wars, guild-wars-2, ncsoft

The Daily Grind: Guild Wars 2 for you?

by Krystalle Voecks Aug 23rd 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, New titles, Opinion, Guild Wars 2

For those folks who enjoyed (or still enjoy) the original Guild Wars, the news out of GamesCom this last week was nothing short of epic. A brand new trailer for the long anticipated Guild Wars 2 has finally come out of ArenaNet with an amazing vision of the future. With the beautiful, lush work that we've come to expect out of their studio, the flyovers and underwater areas have an attention to detail and a grand scape that makes us want to play Guild Wars 2 right now.

Of course, we're but a tiny bunch of writers scattered across the world. This morning we wanted to ask you if you're interested in picking up GW2 as well? What is it that has fired up your interest? Is it the idea of the lore expanding from the previous games? The idea of battling hordes of Zhaitan's undead minions? Playing underwater? Something else? Perhaps you are completely new to the Guild Wars series, and are interested because it's something new. Or are you completely uninterested in Guild Wars 2, for whatever reason?

Tags: arenanet, gamescom-2009, guild-wars-2, gw2, ncsoft, new-titles, tdg, the-daily-grind