http://news.bigdownload.com/2008/05/...on-guild-wars/
Guild Wars shook up the MMO scene with a radically different business plan, where game development would be funded with box sales instead of subscription fees. It also stood out as one of the best examples of PvP design, since players were allowed to create top level characters dedicated to competitive gameplay. The game was later followed by two campaigns that added new classes, new PvP modes and a slew of different skills. Factions introduced Faction Points and Alliance Battles, while Nightfall brought in computer controlled Heroes to assist in all areas of combat. Although certain aspects overlap between PvE and PvP game types, Guild Wars has a "separate but equal" way of dealing with the two. Competitors have dedicated arenas, away from the story based areas, where they can quickly jump right into a battle. As a result, strong communities have grown around both PvP and PvE gameplay, and fans eagerly await news about Guild Wars 2. We speak with game designer Isaiah Cartwright from ArenaNet, who specializes in PvP, skill balance and most other combat-related design to find out what it takes to maintain the balance between PvP and PvE gameplay. Read the interview after the jump.
What was the philosophy behind having separate PvE and PvP modes in Guild Wars?
Isaiah Cartwright: We were interested in developing a game that could handle both an interesting story and hardcore PvP. It created a couple of different problems because one feature we wanted to be paramount was that the power curve would taper off and flatline as you reached top level. It wasn't a power over time game like a lot of others were, and that was one of our starting points to make sure our PvP was balanced. Additionally, we put in things like Observer mode and Tournament to build the infrastructure needed to foster a competitive community. So, our overall philosophy is "Here's what we want to do... so let's work our way through it and see what we learn, doing the right decisions along the way."
Is there a difference in the amount of development focus one type of content gets over another?
Isaiah: I don't know if I'd call it a specific kind of dedication. There are definitely people with specialties, but there's a different amount of content between PvE and PvP. It takes more resources to build something in PvE because there are maps, monsters spawns and so on. While PvP requires less people to create it, it takes more people to test it. When creating a game, we set aside goals for the amount of content that will go into PvP and the things we want for PvE, then we set to doing them.
What are some the challenges of balancing skills and items in PvP gameplay against PvE?
Isaiah: There's definitely a huge conflict of interest. PvE players tend to want extremely overpowered things and feel epic while killing lots of things. They don't want things to change very much. Things need to remain static so that they can learn and plan strategies. Change is bad for them - it creates instability in their world. They often have builds and Heroes set up to work off of each other. A major change could completely destroy their game experience. PvP'ers want things to be very balanced. When things aren't balanced, they want it changed. In fact, changing things up in general can make things a little more exciting in PvP.
Essentially, you have one group that wants things to change all the time and another that wants things to never change. Guild Wars has an extremely complex skill system with thousands of skills and combinations. Anything you do can potentially upset one group or the other. We have to weigh out the costs and benefits of everything that we do. A small change in PvE could have huge impacts on PvP. In the end, it can be such a conflict of interest that no matter what you do, you'll upset somebody. So, we have to constantly evaluate our decisions to keep things moving forward.
Can you envision a future where there will be separate rules for PvE and PvP gameplay?
Isaiah: Moving forward, we realize how hard it is to keep both of these groups happy with a single set of rules. Separating the two aspects would probably be in our better interest in the future, but it's not something that we'd put into the current version of Guild Wars. There would also be some trade-offs. We could split the two aspects apart and include different changes for each, but it would add to the game's complexity. We're always trying to keep our game easy to play. Although it's probably not the best idea to have the same set of rules apply to the two groups of people equally, we don't want to create too much of a divide between PvE and PvP and require a bigger jump to move from one type of gameplay to the other. Right now, the skills work the same in both game types, so players can move easily between the two.
In your opinion, what are some of the key factors that contributed to the success of PvP combat in Guild Wars?
Isaiah: Some of it is the ability to change and adapt the game. Our campaigns added a huge number of skills, and we're constantly making improvements to keep it going. Features like Observer mode and Tournaments that foster a great community. The decisions that we made early on, like not having it be a power over time game, allowed us to make a combat system that isn't based on how time you spend playing, but how good you are. The founders really wanted Guild Wars to be a skill based game that put people on a level PvP playing field when playing.
Were there skills that worked well in PvE, but were changed solely based on PvP gameplay observations?
Isaiah: Quite a few. We started out wanting to change everything that needed to be changed for PvP because we wanted to make a very competitive game for tournaments that had cash prizes. So, we kept PvP at a very high focus and made lots of changes. As we learned more, we realized that we had to look at how these changes were going to affect other game types, not just PvE. There's 4v4, 8v8 and competitive missions, so we had to look at every change to see how they would impact those things. It's very important for us to be careful, because some people have specific builds to farm monsters. It's very easy to change a few numbers for the sake of PvP and blow it all away. There have been times when we made changes for one or the other, and times when we haven't made changes because of one of the other. It's a dance we do with every skill change, and sometimes we make changes that'll upset people, but it's something that really needs to happen.
How do you determine if a skill or combination is overpowered?
Isaiah: It comes from a couple different places. We watch the game a lot. I have an observer mode bot that watches the game 24/7, and I get a natural feel through talking to people. I talk with a couple hundred players every day. We read forums, play the game ourselves and watch the game for ourselves. By playing and talking, you can see things as they develop and catch problems as they occur. Players are really good at pointing out problems, but we need to figure out what actually causes the problem - whether it's a skill or a set of skills at the root of the issue. We're constantly evaluating our own game and discuss what needs to be changed. We'll release a balance update every couple of months. It's a continuous process of trial and error to get to the game that we want.
Our technology allows us to implement changes very quickly, but sometimes we need to let things sit out there for a while to get the full feedback. It's easy for us to change too quickly and not see the full effect. Something might seem overpowered because it's new, and our first reaction is to change it. Then we might realize later on that there are numerous ways to counter it, but players just needed time to get used to it. We have to constantly hold ourselves back and make sure we're making the right decisions.
Has the PvP arena changed significantly since the skill unlock packs were made available for purchase?
Isaiah: We were very cautious when we first came out with unlock packs because we didn't want to upset the balance between the people who earned their skills and those who want to buy them. As we slowly moved forward, we reduced the prices on them and we've seen the impact. We're still evaluating the unlock packs... I mean, who knows what the game would have been like if they were there from the beginning? We knew that much of the game was about collecting skills. As we move forward, we can see that the game is also about what you can do with those skills, which makes collection a kind of stepping stone. So, we increased faction across the board, made it easier to unlock things, and really sped up the process. With thousands of skills to collect, the whole thing can become overwhelming and harder for people to get into. Allowing a part of the community to gain access to skills faster hasn't caused as many problems as thought it would. We're still cautious about it, even though it hasn't had any negative impacts. We don't want to upset the culture we have around the game.
Factions brought in a strong connection between PvP and PvE gameplay. Can players expect to see similar content with future games?
Isaiah: There are a couple different sides to PvP. It can be really hardcore and competitive or it can be fun and casual. We tried to mix more casual PvP with Factions and make it something everyone can enjoy. It's something we strive for. We already have some great hardcore competitive aspects in the game, and we're looking to improve the casual aspects. Ultimately, we look to balance all aspects of our game between hardcore and casual players, from PvE to PvP.
Will there be more tools made for users to broadcast tournaments and battles in future games?
Isaiah: We ran so many of the Guild Wars tournaments ourselves that we didn't get a chance to develop a community-run tournament system. Those things would have allowed for extra longevity and the opportunity for people to try different things out. We'll build more of those tools as we move forward, and want the community to run tournaments as well as us. We want to foster a community that can support itself, and we'll be adjusting our systems accordingly.
With all the different PvP modes in Guild Wars now, will it be a priority to develop new types of gameplay, or is it more important to improve and enhance what's already established?
Isaiah: Definitely to enhance and improve on what's been established. The problem with creating too many modes is that you can fragment your player base and reduce the amount of people playing each one. We have a lot of fragmentation with all the different modes we have right now. It also makes implementing changes using so many different skills very difficult. We have to consider how each skill change will impact each game type.
Any final thoughts?
Isaiah: The big thing we always try to iterate is that we care about all the aspects of our game. We're constantly looking at all the potential impacts to the game whenever we make any changes. It's sometimes hard to see that, but we spend a lot of time discussing how every change affects everyone in all aspects of our game. It's something that we'll continue doing.
Thank you for your time.
I
It was posted today though, I'm trying to bring you news. NEWS! Maybe you can think of it as a "how izzy thinks" type of interview instead and realize why some of the changes we've seen recently have taken place.
