PC Gamer May 2007 Information - "Guild Wars Reborn"

Gaile said that. Case closed.

Yep. Basically.

To have played and enjoyed a game as unique and entertaining as Guild Wars, and know now that it will be replaced by such a generic and forgettable successor is disappointing to say the least. I know Guild Wars has problems, and some parts of it were poorly thought out, but that doesn't mean that Arenanet has to trash everything and revert to the standard MMO formula. Honestly, I read these summaries and I don't see anything at all that's new or innovative. I don't see anything here that would convince me to buy Guild Wars 2, and I really want to be convinced.

Can I just say this is totally awesome, fantastic, wonderful and great?

I'm sorry I can't join all the weepers, because everything I've read sounds very cool and sounds like Anet has been listening very closely to their fan base.

You can't transfer characters, but there will be a hall of accomplishments (or some such) to bring over the great achievements of your old characters. This will bring benefits / status to to the new characters. There's no reason to stop going for titles or stop playing now. You'll get cool props in the new game for what you do here. This is a great compromise between a fresh start and a connection to the past. GG Anet!

There will be a much higher level cap in GW2. OMG, this is cool. Now everytime I play, my character can improve in some way - and not just the cosmetics. Repeated PVE will be much more enjoyable and the game will have a lot more life. While I respect people that go for the drunkard's title, explorers, etc., to me THAT is the pointless grind. Now my pve playing can always have a purpose.

PVP is still balanced! Woot. No matter how much a player puts into the game, the competitive PVP games will be exquisitely balanced. If you're a die-hard PVP'er, which I am not, no griding is required whatsoever. All skills are availabe for all characters at the highest level with all max armor and weapons. You NEVER have to feel you have to do anything to be competitive - other than compete. This should be a PVP'ers dream.

A wider world. I really look forward to the technology behind this, but who hasn't felt lonely out there in your little instance with all heroes and henches? I'm sure those choices will still be there, but now truely random and cool things will happen in the wilds. Massive group raids against dragons? Very nice.

No monthly FEE! If they can really pull this off, this is too cool for words. To give us a deeper, continually evolving pve experience and a no-grind, balanced pvp alternative for NO EXTRA MONEY each month is just too good for words. I'm sure there will be expansions to keep the revenue flowing in, and people will pay it if the content is there. I know I will.

If I had to design my perfect GW 2 game, this is pretty close to what I would have done. Thank you Anet.

Nicely said.

Know why 90% of us are mad about character transfer? Cause Anet said of the constant 6 month standalone game standard. That every 6 months your work and effort can be transfered over to another campaign and still continue that tradition. This was the biggest factor I took into consideration of actually purchasing this game. It was promised to have a LONG TIME VALUE of CONTINUOS gameplay.

Now, you turn your back on your own community, the things you have said Gaile really make me wonder who your ventriloquist is.

They don't even reserve names, armor transfers, but give you this ridiculous sticker of being a "good boy/girl" for playing beforehand ONLY IF YOU PURCHASED GW:EN, can I say SELLING POINT? You really know how to milk your customers don't you? If I had played WoW for a year it would have costed me the EXACT same yet I have more content. This game PvP'ers do not care whatsoever because all they do is roll characters, but it has massively more PvE content and nothing drives that playerbase whatsoever. Like I said, this better be INSANELY inspiring to play in order for me to EVER consider this. As it is, I am playing the classic good games you made, not this junk.

Uh oh... PC Gamer let the cat out of the bag (Not that we didnt alrdy know this was gonna happen)... quick someone do a facial comparrison on that picture to the little girl outside Asclon city (you know who)


Oh and was this a joke GW:EN kinda sounds like.... GWEN!(Bout time)

I have mixed feelings about everything right now. I'm excited and worried at the same time about GW2, there are a few things that I like and a few things that I'm unsure about. Can't wait for beta to see how GW2 will turn out, I hope it'll be good and add some of the basic elements from GW1.

Now that we know that there will be a team to support GW1 (got this from GWO) and keeping the servers open, I hope along the road the Devs would considered to keep making small expansions/SF-like updates for the current GW1 chapters. So the players that like GW1's play style and who don't want to stop playing their current characters, won't feel so abandoned and they'll be happy. Good idea? o_o

Well how many of those people who like WoW styled games will play WoW when they find out GW 2 is like that, but free to play?

even if GW2 is very similar to WoW, it:

1. Will have completely updated graphics
2. WILL NOT HAVE A MONTHLY FEE

i still dont believe people are lobbying for a character transferal system. the skills, mechanics, art direction, item quality, value of gold and plat, may be completely different come one game to the next. it may not be possible or worth it to transfer your characters directly from one game to another. are you all 10 years old and unable to see reason and logic?

I'm not sure I like the fact of not bringing an existing character to guild wars 2 I spent all that time all that gold and for what to make a new char i disagree with this totally you should be able to migrate chars to GW 2. And I'm probably not the onlyone who feels this way!!!!!!!

I wonder when scans will become easy to find or when my library will get it, I wanna read the full text.

1. Grafix make game good? thx for the info, let me go thrw away all my games with inferor visuuls!11

2. Yup, GW2 will not have a monthly fee, nor constant support and updates. WoW is ever changing, and can be that way because of the monthly fee.

She said that so people still bought the mag. Don't be too hard on her though, it was really NCSoft's fault with their loose lips. Gaile was probably as upset as everyone else. I bet it took her and Mike an hour to construct her incredibly evasive response to the leak.

At this point my only concern is reserving names of characters I have in GW1.

You make a great point here. I have some names on my GW account that I really do like. I would really like to keep some names that I have already made.

Can ANET make name reservations if your GW1 account has it already... there must be a way of doing this..

OH and that picture of Gwen in PC Gamer is awsome she must be a Mesmer or a Monk...

I am astonished that some people have too thick a skull to understand that, Guild Wars 2, despite having 'Guild Wars' in its name, is a completely new game. You do not transfer characters from Lineage 1 to Lineage 2, and you do not transfer characters from Neverwinter Nights 1 to Neverwinter Nights 2. Period.

Then there's this 'omg WOW lol' rants. The only similarity between GW2 and WoW at this point is that both games are real MMORPGs which utilize some instancings. WoW neither invented character races nor created the concept of a vast world shared by multitides of players. Judging from the various innovations within GW1, I am quite confident that the GW team is capable of creating a new game that is unique in its own way, or at least, more unique than the game called WoW which has been stagnant for years now except for some new skins and *gasps* more raids.

And about the level cap. For those who dislike PvE or story-based advantures, you can practically just create a full level character with full skills for PVP- something that you will never be able to do in WoW, for example. For PvEers, a higher level cap allows a much more immersive PvE gameplay- which I believe should not be taken away just because some PvPers are seized by the 'must race to level cap' mentalities.

More loose ends? What's left? Nightfall cleared all the loose ends up...

To all those pple here crying about how Anet is dumping its "Unique" but dated GW 1 for generic MMO style.

STOP KIDDING YOURSELVES.

The biggest strongest reason why GW was successful wasnt because it has instancing, low level cap or just 8 skill. Its because they offered a non-subcription based online game with decent graphic with a buy and play for free business model. You may enjoy GW for all the things it had, but if GW1 was a subscrpition based model, i bet those QQers wouldnt have come anywhere close to it.

GET THIS INTO YOUR HEAD:

As long GW2 continue to based itself as a Buy and play for free model (regarless of whatever content it host) it will still be as popular as GW 1 because it will be new then and the business model sells, with or without your support.

Stop crying and suck it up or go cry at some other game forums.

man over a year till beta and people are complaining, how about you wait to play it and then judge it?

text discripstions never do justice to actual games.

as for the levels thing, nobody knows for sure about that either. Some of you would like to think that anet suddenly went retarded, but thats probably not the case. It could be very well that you get no stat benifits after a certain level. the higher levels may be used for something way diffrent.

from where i stand it looks like they are improving the game by alot. I mean i like the guild wars i play now, but it would be nice to have all the new mechanics be global, so that your expansions effect the old chapters.

I know id be more likley to go back to old maps and play if i had reasons to go back instead of new content being for new expansions only.

I know im gunna be playing when the beta hits, but its up to the game itself to decide how much longer i stay after that.

You act as the people are inconveniencing you by talking on a public forum, please have some maturity. Everyone has a right to their opinion.

I think you people are getting way too serious about this, it's a game not the end of your world and if your world is GW then well you need to wake up.

I've been playing for almost 2 years and yes I have played a lot and I have taken it seriously from time to time, but then I realize that I didn't buy this game for any reason other than it looked fun and the no fee (even though that isn't a big deal). That's all I started playing this for was it was new and fun. It got more serious for me as time went on though, but when it ends, it ends. It's not that big of a deal and like a pet, you might get attached by they go away after a time.

Guild Wars 2 will be new and fun for me, this is why I'm not dying inside because of the changes that will be occurring. Look on the brighter side, this is something new and fun and shouldn't be related to the old Guild Wars even though it has it's name and story. I certainly don't plan on relating it too much and maybe that's why I'm not as upset. If it's fun it's fun and I'm happy, if it's not it's not and I wasted $50.00. But not because of any of the things that were stated in that article. Anything that takes a long time in a game makes it good so it doesn't get boring fast.

Like Guild Wars got, 3-5 months, another game please. I came back out of sheer determination and will to complete things and it wasn't easy. Sometimes I have fun but rarely, and well I'm looking forward to this weekend and upcoming updates and EoTN and GW 2.

Who knows they might not shut down GW servers so I won't even have to say goodbye to it totally.

off topic, but one of Gwen's phrases in pre as i remember has something to do with her wanting to "grow up and be a warrior like Devona someday." if anet got that wrong too its just another thing to throw out

2009?.. I will be joining the military in 2009.. oh well. I'll still play GW.. 1, up until then.

Here's another BIG problem I have with all this....

promised content has still not been delivered for GW1

GW EN won't be released until late this year...so basically a year in between new content

Why keep playing now? That's my question...basically we are being told that everything you have done and will do is for naught.

I think ANet better give us something now and fast, cause I think way too many people are going towards the door if they haven't already gotten there.

I can't count how many friends I've had for the last 2 years that have stopped playing in the last couple of months.

So far I'm loving every bit of GW2 I'm reading about. It's going to be refreshing to get a new game from Anet. GW1 is good, but seriously it couldn't go on like it was for another few campaigns and stay interesting.

Complainers make me laugh. Seriously, I love reading complaints. Your tears are delicious. I bet 99% of you haven't even read the PC Gamer article. You have no idea how levels will be done. It might be the most innovative and rewarding level system ever invented for a RPG, but you have NO IDEA, yet you still complain. I don't even think Anet knows how they're going to do it yet. They're basically saying "Ok we're making a whole new game and we're not going to design it around the number 20". This is VERY encouraging. It shows they are NOT BEING LAZY and are re-evaluating everything about Guild Wars. Do you really think a level 1325 is going to have more hit points/energy than a level 384? If you do then you're dumb. Higher levels will probably show greater experience and versatility, but they will not make you have "Godly" powers over "nubs".

This is still Guild Wars people. No monthly fees. No mandatory grind. Ever. Why would you lose faith in Anet because they decided level 20 isn't a good number to use to balance their NEW GAME?

Please stop riding the "dead WoW horse'.

Omg GW2 will require a computer with internet access required to play!, omgzorrs it's just like WoW! /whine

Yes, I know that Blizzard invented playable non-human races, and the idea of a persistent game world and the whole concept of character development, namely leveling; but resistance is futile, so get over it.

Yeah, if you mistrust ANet so much, maybe you should be playing another game. I have full confidence that ANet can bring in standard game concepts without compromising principles. As for levels, maybe there won't even be "levels". If there are levels they may not necessarily be tied into base character strengths. But, who knows? It's a blank page, that ANet will write upon in their own way.

ANet has well established it's philosophy on gaming and that governing philosophy will be the guiding principle it relies on whenever it introduces new things to a game design.

Philosophy is not process, it governs a process. It's the very operating system of a design, not the hardware.

I'll stop short of calling you names, and just say that's oversimplified and shortsighted.

IF GW would've started out as a totally run-of-the mill MMORPG, but free, what you say would be 100% true. However, it didn't. It was not only free, but innovative and different.

Was that innovation universally popular? Nope. There were people out there that missed their level grinding and noob ganking. They either adapted to GW or went away to games that better suited them.

In the meantime, GW fostered a customer base that LIKED their game. Some from the beginning, and others that "came around" to the new way of playing an online game.

BAM! GW2! Say goodbye to that and start over.

From everything that we know about GW2 so far (and don't tell me the entire design of the game is subject to change. It's not), it will abandon everything that made GW unique except the free monthly play.

Neat. Now the fans of "normal" MMORPGS will be happy, but at the expense of GW's existing fanbase that actually liked the original game.

Result? The original fanbase stays with GW1 for as long as possible, and leaves sadly when that's no longer possible, while a whole new crowd of MMORPG players join GW2, which must then be prove itself superior to existing games on a comparison scale that was defined by their very successful competitors.

Hope they can pull in those new fans, because they sure sound like they'll be throwing away the old ones.

PS: BOY this thread moves fast! ^_^

any mmo you play will be gone someday, there is no stoping that. but i also didnt read anywhere that theyd shut down the first game when the second hit.

it also seems like they plan on doing more updates to the original overtime. heck this hard mode stuff gives reasons to play through all 3 chapters again

I'm totally psyched about the expansion and GW:2. I know one of the big arguments going on is about character transfer from GW:1 to GW:2, and I have to say that I really don't want to take my current character(s) over to the new game. I'm actually excited about the concept of the Hall of Monuments and the idea of creating a new character that can be a decendant of my current one. It really adds to the role playing aspect of the game. I'm actually kind of ashamed at some of the negativity thats going on. All the doomsdayers and naysayers make me sick. Guild Wars has always been a fun and unique gaming experience and I'm positive that it will continue to be one of the greatest games on the market. As someone else said, WoW has some good points, so whats wrong if Anet can take some basic ideas from that game and do it better. More power to 'em. I love the current game, I'll buy the expansion and love it, and I'll buy GW:2, create a new character and pay homage to my great-great-great-great-great grandfather who was a hero in the time of the flameseeker prophecies, thwarted Shiro Tagachi's evil plans, and brought an end to nightfall. Keep up the good work ArenaNet.

I really Agree with you and so far i've already decided to stick with the original Guild wars and not buying GW 2, having different races already was enough for me to decide not to with it, also not having the possibility to transfer my character is a let down to something i really hoped for.

No gw 2 for me, instead A net would be better of update the current GW engine and keep GW alive.

I can think of several off the top.. such as

The Mysterious War between the Mursaat and the Seers for instance.

Who is the Unseen and why was he feared as an ally of Abbodon?

Also the locations of the other missing Bloodstones.

The Mysterious disappearance of Lord Odran and who he was exactly and his relevance to the GW storyline.

What happened to Gwen? is another example.

How the Dredge traveled underneath the ocean to reach Cantha...

Etc Etc

I agree with this. As long as it is f2p then people will buy it. If you don't then some runescape kiddie will gladly take your copy.

I don't agree with this.

Well, most of it sounds good. I wonder how the new world PvP will work with only eight skills... much of world play is 1v1 encounters and 1v1 doesn't do very well in Guild Wars.

More importantly though, I hope that they'll redo all 10 classes and give them a fresh start with MANY armor choices. This alone will make me buy the game

High level cap would be awsome. I hope that the levels actually mean something too. I want my lvl 45 to be stronger in every way than a lvl 20. This is only if the story line of GW2 can support that lvl cap. I don't want to finish the game at level 30 and then be forced to grind to lvl 45 just to reach the cap and have a "truely" finished character. It would be nice to have a game that would "naturaly" lvl you all the way up to max.
Guild Wars is the first and only MMO I have ever played so my bias is truely limited to only what I have seen in Guild Wars and what I have heard of other games. I want a game that I can lvl all the way to the end. I hated the conscept of ascention because it boosted you to lvl 20 with by killing a single person. Where is the challenge in that!
I really really liked the "8 skills only" part of the game. Having the ability to equip all of your skills at the same time gets rid of so much of the individualism in build design and also gets rid of the complexidy. I like making builds and I think its a ton of fun to have the limited amount of skills just so "in pve" you get diversity amoung builds and you its just a lot more fun! I know this post is a little scattered so I will outline it for you incase you got lost, lol.

- I like the changes to the game that were discussed in the original post.
- The high level cap is something that I am looking forward to although I think that most people, myself included, would apreciate it if the story line supported the lvl cap. ie. people reach max level by the end of the game.
- The one thing I hope will stay is the limit on the number of skills equipable. I don't want pvp to suffer just to increase the "fun" of pve.

added notes:
- dont make multiple servers like wow, I want to be able to play with my friends no matter what server they are on.
- Give us an auction house. duh!
- Get rid of green weapons. It just standardizes the game (I admit I do use green weapons, I use what is available to me)
- Being able to see your allies energy bar in the party formation screan would be kool by the way.
- similarly, keep a similar interface. I like it and it looks good and feels right!
- Come out with the hardware requirements well in advance so that those of us that need to upgrade can have the time to do so.
- A-net, dont be discouraged by all the negativity. Most people don't bother to post if they agree with something, thats why you get mostly complainers.

No, I don't think Anet would be that crazy. But higher level WILL, exactly as you said, show greater experience. So now everyone knows at a glance just how much time you spend in pve. That's good for some people who spend their entire lives on GW. Those of us that actually have other things they have to do and can't grind for levels will be stuck trying to find a group with people that quit because Anet killed the level cap.

I say those who kid themselves by thinking that people won't be discriminated against for not having higher levels are the dumb ones here.

It's not so much gw2 that's the problem, it's the fact that gw1 is dead now. Why play anymore until gw2 is out? It's pointless now. After you've beaten the campaigns, tried your hand in some pvp, and earned your items, all that's left is to make a lot of money. If the money can't be transferred, then there's really nothing left to do. Why make money when it's going to be flushed down the toilet?

*Waves goodbye to half of the GW community*

I'm nervous about change in general. So before I declare these changes "dooming" or "exicting", I'm going to have to see how they appeal to what I want in a game.

I just got good and started with Prophecies then Nightfall came out. I was so exicted about that I decided to purchase Factions. Because I wanted to be involved in all chapters... and future chapters. Now, there aren't future chapters to look to but a new game.

So what will happen to Guild Wars. Once GW2 comes out, will we still be able to play GW? Is there only two years left?

I've got to get the magazine and see what exactly is happening. I will say that I'm pleased that there won't be any fees.. but I'm not a creature that likes change either. Especially, when there has been a foundation of expectations laid before hand.

Oh well it was great while it lasted. I will get GWEN and probably love it but I wont be trying GW2. To much time and effort went into my toons. I wont be "starting them over" Ill play GW1 as long as it still has other players then I'm out. Thanks for the good times Anet. What a bummer.

For all those that are leaving and are now complaining of heartattacks and strokes due to the news, I will personally escort you off the servers.. of course you could leave your money with me.. :P

ANyways, griefers come and griefers go. Nobody can say much untill we've tried the WBE of Gw2.