Fans Get Answers at Guild Wars 2 PAX East Panel
This article originally appeared on ZAM on March 15, 2011.
The bulk of the Guild Wars 2 panel at PAX East featured members of the ArenaNet team answering questions from fans. Editor-in-Chief Darryl Gangloff shares details from the event.
To give you an indication of the anticipation surrounding Guild Wars 2, the game's PAX East panel reached maximum capacity long before the doors even opened. Eager fans poured into the large room to listen to members of the ArenaNet team discuss the upcoming fantasy MMO and explain how it has evolved from the original game. Audience members also got the chance to ask a variety of questions about Guild Wars 2 during the Q&A session.
The panel was comprised of Lead Content Designer Colin Johanson, Game Designer Jon Peters, Community Manager Regina Buenaobra, Senior VP of Global Business Randy Price, Designer Jeff Grubb, Environment Artist Tirzah Bauer and Global Brand Manager Brian Porter. Now that the introduction is out of the way, let's dive into what was covered at the event.
Compared to other panels, the team's opening discussion of the game was kept fairly short to allow ample time for the Q&A session. They kicked things off by showing the Guild Wars 2 Manifesto video, which features developers discussing the major points of the game.
Johanson then wanted to clarify three points about the game:
Following some applause, Johanson explained that ArenaNet was founded to be innovative with game design. He said that the three main areas of focus on Guild Wars 2 are personal story, dynamic events and combat. If these sound familiar, that's because they're the same points that were discussed during our live demo of the Norn starting area at the Game Developers Conference earlier this month.
“We want your character to have a personality,” Johanson said. You're going to fill out a biography for your character, which will be showcased in an in-game journal. Everything that happens in the storyline is permanent and will be reflected in your home instance. For example, you may have to choose whether or not to save one of your friends. If you do, you'll find them in your home instance. If you don't, they'll disappear.
Johanson seemed most excited to talk about dynamic content. “"We're trying to take the concept of traditional quests in MMOs and throwing them out in the window,” he said. Dynamic events will be going on all around you, and players will be able to join in without reading a ton of text.
He gave the example of a dynamic event chain involving the infamous centaur army attacking a town. If they win, the town is overrun and is lost to the world until players help liberate it. The centaurs will tthen go out to chop down trees to fortify the town. If you fail to stop them, the centaurs will have stronger defenses in place. If you don't drive the centaurs out fast enough, they'll spread their domination to surrounding areas.
These events will dynamically scale based on the number of players actively participating in the event. Basically, more players means more centaurs. World bosses will also grow in power as more people fight them. “We're trying to build a community between our players,” Johanson said, noting that there is no kill stealing. Everyone will get experience, loot and rewards from these dynamic events.
As far as combat is concerned, Peters said they “want players to have a role in combat that matters.” Every character in Guild Wars 2 can fill every role, such as a tank or healer. “The role you play is how you do it, not what you do,” he said. If you and your friends all want to play warriors, that should be an option. The team then played the newly released thief skill videos for the audience to cheers and clapping.
Guild Wars 2 Q&A session
Can you turn off the voices of the characters?
There are about 400 lines for every player, all fully voiced. You can turn down how often they're played. “We've recorded 60 feature films' worth of dialogue for Guild Wars 2,” Johanson said.
Will players be able to know about global events so they can find them?
“There are over 1,000 [events] in the game,” Peters said. “They're never random. They're scripted and planned.” He emphasized that exploration is a major part of the game.
Grubb added that you will still be rewarded if you participate in an event and leave the area. “When the event resolves, you're still rewarded. You don't have to cash in,” he said.
Will the centaurs attack every 20 minutes?
Johanson said that they're part of an event chain. As the chain is completed, it will restart at some point. "Unfortunately, we can't make unlimited content that runs only one time," he said. "The idea is you shouldn't see the same event all time. The world's going to feel like it's alive."
How do you keep people playing?
"There is a ridiculous amount of replay value and endgame content in Guild Wars 2,” Johanson said. Every race has different stories. When you get to the end of your personal story, you can make a new character with a new story to explore different dynamic events and new content
Every 5-person dungeon in the game has a story version, and when you complete it you will unlock a repeatable version. All dungeons have multiple paths, so they're not linear.
All of the major cities have mini-games. "The human city has perpetual bar brawl,” Johanson said. The Norn city has 5v5 keg ball game in which players can dump ale and make people slip.
As far as PvP is concerned, there will be competitive 5v5 rated games and world vs. world PvP. "This is gigantic, unbalanced PvP,” Johanson said. Your server is matched up against two other servers at the same time. You can level to the cap in world PvP if you want. "When you kill someone in world vs. world, they drop loot,” Peters said.
How will the scalable AI handle a mixed level group?
Johanson said that the sidekicking system will let characters change their level depending on the content. High-level characters can lower their level to explore older content, while lower level characters can be sidekicked up to play with their higher-level friends.
What did you learn most from Guild Wars 1?
“We're going from a primarily instanced world to a fully persistent world,” Grubb said. Instancing is now a storytelling tool. By going to persistent world, you'll be encountering players all over the world.
Bauer added that from a mapbuilding perspective, adding the ability to jump is great. For example, players can now jump off cliffs and swim.
What is the overall population and lifespan of the Norn?
“Not many Norn die of old age,” Grubb said. They live into the triple digits and stay young and active well into their old age.
How will I know where to go when I'm done with a certain area in the game?
Johanson said that playtesters were wandering into the world without knowing what to do next. “We've added a system to the game called scouts,” he said. Players can talk to these NPCs to point them in the right direction, but it's a completely optional feature.
How can we improve our home instance?
“Your home instance reflects the nature of your personal story,” Grubb said. It changes based on your actions. For example, do you save the orphanage or hospital? If you save the orphanage, you'll have grateful orphans in your home instance but the hospital will be destroyed.
Will new dynamic events be added regularly?
“Guild Wars 1 is almost 6 years old and we had a major content update last week,” Price said. “It's inevitable that you'll see new events out there as the game progresses.”
Will a player who doesn't participate much in a dynamic event get all of the rewards?
Johanson said that it only works if you actively participate. You can't just shoot one bullet and sit back. "It's pretty intelligent AI," he said. You can earn bronze, silver and gold participation, which affects your rewards.
Is there an auction house?
Yes. It's a marketplace for both buyers and sellers, Peters said. For example, a player can post in the marketplace that they're looking for a specific item at a specific price.
Will there be a lot of customization with PvP and skills?
There is a lot more customization than there was in Guild Wars 1. “We made the skills a lot more like building blocks” so you can piece them together, Peters said. He emphasized that there is a lot of variety.
The bulk of the Guild Wars 2 panel at PAX East featured members of the ArenaNet team answering questions from fans. Editor-in-Chief Darryl Gangloff shares details from the event.
To give you an indication of the anticipation surrounding Guild Wars 2, the game's PAX East panel reached maximum capacity long before the doors even opened. Eager fans poured into the large room to listen to members of the ArenaNet team discuss the upcoming fantasy MMO and explain how it has evolved from the original game. Audience members also got the chance to ask a variety of questions about Guild Wars 2 during the Q&A session.
The panel was comprised of Lead Content Designer Colin Johanson, Game Designer Jon Peters, Community Manager Regina Buenaobra, Senior VP of Global Business Randy Price, Designer Jeff Grubb, Environment Artist Tirzah Bauer and Global Brand Manager Brian Porter. Now that the introduction is out of the way, let's dive into what was covered at the event.
Compared to other panels, the team's opening discussion of the game was kept fairly short to allow ample time for the Q&A session. They kicked things off by showing the Guild Wars 2 Manifesto video, which features developers discussing the major points of the game.
Johanson then wanted to clarify three points about the game:
- Guild Wars 2 is a true MMO with a persistent world.
- There is jumping.
- There is is no monthly fee.
Following some applause, Johanson explained that ArenaNet was founded to be innovative with game design. He said that the three main areas of focus on Guild Wars 2 are personal story, dynamic events and combat. If these sound familiar, that's because they're the same points that were discussed during our live demo of the Norn starting area at the Game Developers Conference earlier this month.
“We want your character to have a personality,” Johanson said. You're going to fill out a biography for your character, which will be showcased in an in-game journal. Everything that happens in the storyline is permanent and will be reflected in your home instance. For example, you may have to choose whether or not to save one of your friends. If you do, you'll find them in your home instance. If you don't, they'll disappear.
Johanson seemed most excited to talk about dynamic content. “"We're trying to take the concept of traditional quests in MMOs and throwing them out in the window,” he said. Dynamic events will be going on all around you, and players will be able to join in without reading a ton of text.
He gave the example of a dynamic event chain involving the infamous centaur army attacking a town. If they win, the town is overrun and is lost to the world until players help liberate it. The centaurs will tthen go out to chop down trees to fortify the town. If you fail to stop them, the centaurs will have stronger defenses in place. If you don't drive the centaurs out fast enough, they'll spread their domination to surrounding areas.
These events will dynamically scale based on the number of players actively participating in the event. Basically, more players means more centaurs. World bosses will also grow in power as more people fight them. “We're trying to build a community between our players,” Johanson said, noting that there is no kill stealing. Everyone will get experience, loot and rewards from these dynamic events.
As far as combat is concerned, Peters said they “want players to have a role in combat that matters.” Every character in Guild Wars 2 can fill every role, such as a tank or healer. “The role you play is how you do it, not what you do,” he said. If you and your friends all want to play warriors, that should be an option. The team then played the newly released thief skill videos for the audience to cheers and clapping.
Guild Wars 2 Q&A session
Can you turn off the voices of the characters?
There are about 400 lines for every player, all fully voiced. You can turn down how often they're played. “We've recorded 60 feature films' worth of dialogue for Guild Wars 2,” Johanson said.
Will players be able to know about global events so they can find them?
“There are over 1,000 [events] in the game,” Peters said. “They're never random. They're scripted and planned.” He emphasized that exploration is a major part of the game.
Grubb added that you will still be rewarded if you participate in an event and leave the area. “When the event resolves, you're still rewarded. You don't have to cash in,” he said.
Will the centaurs attack every 20 minutes?
Johanson said that they're part of an event chain. As the chain is completed, it will restart at some point. "Unfortunately, we can't make unlimited content that runs only one time," he said. "The idea is you shouldn't see the same event all time. The world's going to feel like it's alive."
How do you keep people playing?
"There is a ridiculous amount of replay value and endgame content in Guild Wars 2,” Johanson said. Every race has different stories. When you get to the end of your personal story, you can make a new character with a new story to explore different dynamic events and new content
Every 5-person dungeon in the game has a story version, and when you complete it you will unlock a repeatable version. All dungeons have multiple paths, so they're not linear.
All of the major cities have mini-games. "The human city has perpetual bar brawl,” Johanson said. The Norn city has 5v5 keg ball game in which players can dump ale and make people slip.
As far as PvP is concerned, there will be competitive 5v5 rated games and world vs. world PvP. "This is gigantic, unbalanced PvP,” Johanson said. Your server is matched up against two other servers at the same time. You can level to the cap in world PvP if you want. "When you kill someone in world vs. world, they drop loot,” Peters said.
How will the scalable AI handle a mixed level group?
Johanson said that the sidekicking system will let characters change their level depending on the content. High-level characters can lower their level to explore older content, while lower level characters can be sidekicked up to play with their higher-level friends.
What did you learn most from Guild Wars 1?
“We're going from a primarily instanced world to a fully persistent world,” Grubb said. Instancing is now a storytelling tool. By going to persistent world, you'll be encountering players all over the world.
Bauer added that from a mapbuilding perspective, adding the ability to jump is great. For example, players can now jump off cliffs and swim.
What is the overall population and lifespan of the Norn?
“Not many Norn die of old age,” Grubb said. They live into the triple digits and stay young and active well into their old age.
How will I know where to go when I'm done with a certain area in the game?
Johanson said that playtesters were wandering into the world without knowing what to do next. “We've added a system to the game called scouts,” he said. Players can talk to these NPCs to point them in the right direction, but it's a completely optional feature.
How can we improve our home instance?
“Your home instance reflects the nature of your personal story,” Grubb said. It changes based on your actions. For example, do you save the orphanage or hospital? If you save the orphanage, you'll have grateful orphans in your home instance but the hospital will be destroyed.
Will new dynamic events be added regularly?
“Guild Wars 1 is almost 6 years old and we had a major content update last week,” Price said. “It's inevitable that you'll see new events out there as the game progresses.”
Will a player who doesn't participate much in a dynamic event get all of the rewards?
Johanson said that it only works if you actively participate. You can't just shoot one bullet and sit back. "It's pretty intelligent AI," he said. You can earn bronze, silver and gold participation, which affects your rewards.
Is there an auction house?
Yes. It's a marketplace for both buyers and sellers, Peters said. For example, a player can post in the marketplace that they're looking for a specific item at a specific price.
Will there be a lot of customization with PvP and skills?
There is a lot more customization than there was in Guild Wars 1. “We made the skills a lot more like building blocks” so you can piece them together, Peters said. He emphasized that there is a lot of variety.