guild-wars posts

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

One Shots: A toast to your doom

by Krystalle Voecks Nov 7th 2009 at 2:00PM

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

Every year in Guild Wars, the Mad King Thorn invades, demanding that the residents there laugh -- or die. But for all that this may sound incredibly ominous, you can't help but appreciate just how utterly cool the ArenaNet team has made their game look. Today's spooky yet gorgeous screenshot comes to us from Thorband, who captured this image during the recent Guild Wars Halloween events. Add in those especially awesome wings, the grinning moon, and a ghoulish visage, and that's a hard Halloween image to beat!

Have you seen something really, really cool but unquestionably evil? We'd be thrilled if you'd share with the rest of us. Just email it to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post it out here and give you the credit. (Meanwhile, we'll be turning it into our desktop image for the day!)

Gallery: One Shots

Tags: arenanet, guild-wars, gw, halloween-2009, mad-king-thorn, ncsoft, one-shots, screenshot, screenshots, thorband

NCsoft responds to City of Heroes speculation

by Eliot Lefebvre Nov 5th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, Business models, Interviews, MMO industry, Opinion, Rumors

A couple days ago, we had a post detailing some speculation on what City of Heroes: Going Rogue meant for NCsoft West, City of Heroes, and the future of the entire branch of the company. Ryan James, director of corporate communications for NCsoft, took the time to issue a direct response to us regarding that post. We also got an opportunity to ask him a few questions regarding NCsoft's current and future direction, which helps provide some context and some behind-the-scenes information to offset the speculative nature of the aforementioned post.

The official response is as follows:

"We wanted to respond to your post from November 2 on City of Heroes and clarify a few points for you and your readers. In short, the piece offers a rather sensationalist view of NCsoft West and our success thus far.

We're very proud of what we've accomplished here in the West – we have several major MMO franchises, including City of Heroes, Lineage and Guild Wars. And our newest addition to the NCsoft portfolio, Aion, has just seen a very successful launch here in the West. As you point out, we have had to make some tough portfolio decisions, but this is very much par for the course for any major game publisher today. That being said, we remain extremely proud of the Paragon team's accomplishments with the City of Heroes franchise. City of Heroes is still the world's most popular super-powered hero MMO. Even with an increasingly crowded landscape, City of Heroes remains the gold standard for comic book-inspired MMOs – it has stood the test of time and we're excited to be bringing Going Rogue to players next year.

As you note, the author of Vicarious Existence is indeed 'alarmist' in his assessment of NCsoft West and our future. We couldn't agree more. On the contrary, we're optimistic about our future."

Following the statement, Mr. James took the opportunity to answer a few questions about the company's game portfolio and future plans. Take a look at the questions and responses after the break.

Tags: aion, aion-the-tower-of-eternity, business-models, city-of-heroes, city-of-heroes-going-rogue, city-of-villains, coh, cov, cox, dungeon-runners, going-rogue, guild-wars, gw, interviews, lineage-2, lineage-ii, ncsoft, ncsoft-west, opinion, rumors, ryan-james

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

One Shots: From the shadows

by Krystalle Voecks Nov 1st 2009 at 2:00PM

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

While many are enjoying the tail end of the Mad King's Revelry event in Guild Wars, there are still wild, eerie battles to be had at other times as well. Today shows off one such encounter, sent in to us by Bob J. who writes in to explain the scenario: Slavers' Exile is a dungeon with multiple parts. The final part contains boss battle is with Duncan the Black, who is trying to absorb the powers of the Great Destroyer, which was killed at the end of the main Guild Wars: Eye of the North storyline. Duncan is a powerful Ritualist and one of the more annoying bosses in the Guild Wars universe. This screen is of one of my friends taking him down with Sliver Armor and Shadow Form.

One Shots relies heavily on great reader screenshot submissions, so if you're playing a game that doesn't get love as much as you might like, please do take a moment and send us some of your favorite screenshots. Just email them in to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post them up here and give you the nod for sending them along!

Gallery: One Shots

Tags: arenanet, bob-j, guild-wars, gw, halloween-2009, one-shots, screenshot, screenshots

Guild Wars PvP henchmen have arrived

by Rubi Bayer Oct 30th 2009 at 1:30PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Patches, PvP, Free-to-play

Back at the beginning of the month, ArenaNet announced the winners of the Guild Wars henchman skill bar contest, promising that the AI would be tweaked to make the winning bars work well. Since then we've been anxiously awaiting the new henchmen to see how well they work and more importantly, what they look like.

They arrived with last night's update, along with a bug fix for Devona, who really wanted to keep "Charge!" on her bar. While it will take some time to get a feel for them in battle, the Live Team clearly had a great time putting them together. The models look great -- a nice variety of looks and styles, and talking to them gives a brief dialogue that says a bit about their personality. In a fun little touch, many of their idle emotes fit their personalities as well. Talking to them will also reveal their skill bars, allowing you to make your selections without resorting to memory or the wiki.

Heroes have been removed for the time being, but don't worry just yet if you want them back. Community manager Regina Buenaobra says, "After yesterday's update our programmer is looking into enabling Heroes in the Guild Hall. He is optimistic that it's possible."

The new henchmen are available in Heroes' Ascent and in guild halls, and while it's a bit disappointing that we didn't actually get henchmen named Hi Captain Obvious or Noodle Legs, we are optimistic that they'll live up to expectations on the battlefield.

Tags: arenanet, devona, guild-wars, gw, henchmen, henchmen-skill-bar-contest, ncsoft, pvp

Team Arenas and Hero Battles not the only thing changed in latest Guild Wars update

by Rubi Bayer Oct 23rd 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Game mechanics, Patches

Devona without "Charge!"? No more Firestorm for Cynn? Abasi has...wait, what did Abasi have before? Who is that, anyway?

Regina said a few days ago that Hero Battles and Team Arenas would be removed from Guild Wars this week and that the Sealed Deck/Codex Arena would be added. It looks like the Live Team took care of that, made a few more PvP tweaks, then turned their attention to heroes and henchmen. Our sometimes-trusty sidekicks got quite the makeover. Nearly 70 henchmen skill bars throughout every campaign plus Eye of the North were rebalanced, and the AI for nearly every class of hero, henchman, and Hard Mode NPC was updated. (The AI on Necros and Dervishes got a pass - apparently they used their skills well enough to be left alone.) The full list of changes can be viewed here.

The Underworld got some attention too, fixing bugs, streamlining things, adjusting spawns and adding the ominous statement "Something stirs deep in the Underworld, slowly making its presence known." Hopefully we'll find out more about that something when the Halloween events get into full swing.

For now, we're going to find out if removing Healing Touch from Alesia's bar has taught her that she's not a frontliner.

Tags: arenanet, codex-arena, guild-wars, henchmen, heroes, ncsoft, pvp, update

Goodbye RR Day: Guild Wars to remove Hero Battles and Team Arenas this week

by Rubi Bayer Oct 19th 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Events, in-game, Exploits, PvP, News items

No, we're not endorsing RR Day. But ArenaNet Community Manager Regina Buenaobra announced today that Hero Battles and Team Arenas will be removed from Guild Wars with this week's update, and it's safe to assume that a good many players will be mourning that loss. The news shouldn't come as any surprise, given that Live Team Lead Linsey Murdock warned us of this almost two months ago.

So how does this affect the PvP side? Well, after the update this week -- presumably Thursday or Friday -- the Commander title will still exist, but gaining points for it will no longer be possible. It will be replaced by a new title so those who haven't maxed their Commander title won't be left out in the cold. Random Arenas will no longer promote to Team Arenas, and the Hero Battles Ladder will freeze.

Linsey has said that Team Arena will be "renamed and repurposed" for the new Sealed Deck format, and that the Hero Battles maps will be reused, but the only change indicated for this week is the removal of TA/HB. It looks like Sealed Deck and all the other PvP projects are still having finishing touches put on them, so we'll keep watching for them.

Tags: arenanet, guild-wars, hero-battles, linsey-murdock, pvp, red-resign-day, regina-buenaobra, rr-day, team-arena

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 PvP project updates

by Rubi Bayer Oct 9th 2009 at 9:00AM

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

Back in August, Linsey Murdock, game designer for ArenaNet, gave news of a large Guild Wars PvP project the Live Team was working on. Community Manager Regina Buenaobra gave an update yesterday, working through a laundry list of items in the project and their status.

The PvP henchmen contest seems to be the primary focus of the Live Team at the moment. Winners were announced last week, and after the initial flurry of perusing the new skill bars and congratulating the winners, the Guild Wars community wondered "What now?". Will we see the new henchmen anytime soon, and more importantly, will we really have henchmen named Rolol Lololol and A Papaya In There? As it turns out, the Live Team is working on that very thing -- contacting winners, working out appropriate in-character names, and anticipating the fun of finding models. While the team is working hard on this, Regina didn't neglect mention of the many other items on the list.

The switch from Team Arenas and Hero Battles to the Sealed Deck format is taking longer than planned, as team members had to build the project nearly from the ground up. A few items, like GvG Tiebreaker and a new Hall of Heroes map, have been put on hold until the Test Krewe is in place. Several small items are taken care of and ready to go, while other things are on hold for now; one of them being the next skill balance.

More details can be seen in Regina's journal entry, and we hope for even more soon.

Tags: arenanet, guild-wars, linsey-murdock, ncsoft, pvp, regina-buenaobra

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

One Shots: Overlooking the quarry

by Krystalle Voecks Oct 4th 2009 at 2:00PM

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

When you see screenshots like this that almost seem to hover on the very verge of looking like paintings themselves, you can definitely see why the artists at ArenaNet have won several awards for their work on Guild Wars. With the art for Guild Wars 2 out, we can't wait to see more of that world. For now, though, we'll just enjoy today's great One Shots and long description, sent in to us by Sunspear. If you'd like to join the fun, send in your own image and note to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description. We'll do the rest. Now, on with the note!

Quarrymaster Bohanna: "Hail, Sunspear! I am Quarrymaster Bohanna. I am in charge of the quarry at the Cliffs of Dohjok, and I need the help of a strong player like you. You see, we deliver stone to support the sculptors creating our monuments. But we've been unable to meet our quotas recently and construction has stopped. Every time the miners try to excavate more stone, they get attacked by mandragor."

The Cliffs of Dohjok is a forested ridge situated in southern Istan, between the swampy lowlands to the southwest and the flat plains to the east. A beautiful waterfall lies to the west. Istanis are currently carrying out quarrying work in the cliffs to the east of the waterfall. The Quarry you see on the screenshot is deserted and overrun by corsairs and mandragor.

Gallery: One Shots

Tags: guild-wars, one-shots, screenshot, screenshots, sunspear

Guild Wars announces winners of the henchmen skill bar contest

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

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Contests, Events, in-game, PvP

As part of the PvP love update that Linsey Murdock mentioned back in August, Guild Wars will be removing heroes from Guild vs. Guild and Heroes' Ascent, replacing them with brand new henchmen. Heroes in these formats were a bit of a problem, as they sometimes put players at a disadvantage if they didn't have access to heroes.

These aren't just any henchmen, though. This new group comes straight from the Guild Wars community, courtesy of the henchmen skill bar contest. Players were invited to submit henchmen skill bar suggestions via Dizhou, a temporary NPC placed in the Great Temple of Balthazar until the contest closed on September 10th. ArenaNet chose forty skill bars from these submissions. Each of the lucky winners will receive a henchman named after them (or by them, if they preferred) and an everlasting henchman tonic that temporarily transforms them into their namesake.

Check out the winners in both the Guild vs. Guild and Heroes' Ascent categories, and congratulations to all of you!

Tags: Arenanet, contest, Guild-Wars, henchmen, Linsey Murdock, PvP, skill-bar

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