Interview with Jeff Strain in German Magazine

You all can say that this information is all old, but the aspect of equipment playing a significant role in this game is very new to me.

In fact, much of what I've read in your bad translation simply is turning me away from this game.

World PvP for the casual gamer, non-profession'd armor, and equipment playing a substantial role?

Sweet jesus, please no.

I'll probably be the only person to say this, but from what I was able to understand and comprehend, I dislike over 75% of the information I now know. The only thing that is going through my head is now I can be called a newb/noob everywhere I go by people who happen to be "godly"...

There's a strong chance I'll only be getting GW2 when it's Friday the 13th, a full moon and a solar eclipse all in the same day. Simple and originality doesn't exist anymore in gaming...

I can also add one thing. If PvP somehow finds a way to get me to play, do well and discover I'm a lot better than I thought... then PvP will be a breeding ground for QQ.

^ Sounds like the action is going to be sweet!

WOOT bout effign time we got some of that, even though they are generic.

Well I'll be sure to steer clear of the Zittergipfelgebirge when the Norn are around.

The translation freakin killed me, but good info. I'm still not happy about no click to move just so I can jump.

I store some of my own character DNA in a simular place in real life, if ya know what I mean.

Although I understand your point, there are a few sets of armor that are restricted only to certain classes. A lot can be seen in HotU.

But I was referring to the races and how it can be less of a hassle designing one set of armor for 5 different races.

Sig please.

~~

Well, my only comfort I can hope to gain in all of this info is that GW is steering more of an RPG direction than an MMO one. But at this stage and with only this info, it's hard to tell between the two.

Where's Balan when ya need him? Wish I could hear his thoughts on this, heh heh.

dose anyone have links to info on the city of heroes side kick system. that is brought up a lot and i have never played that game so i would love to hear/ see what its about.

Go to city of heroes forums?

the mentioning of a 'new combat system' intrigues/excites me. I thought the old system was severely lacking...lock on targets should be a thing of the past.

here is a better translation on the wiki that someone {Props to them} did http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild...The_Status_Quo

I loled at point #4:

"4th Huge Events"

The same dragon and the bridge example was given when GW1 was about to come out. They said they could do these kind of changes to the world dynamically.... It turned out they actually couldn't do it. I wonder how 'dynamic' those events with dragons and bridges are going to be.

NO NO NO!!!

gw2 is going to be one giant pug. How am i supposed to grind mobs with random people running around I ddint invite? Common anet, no ones wants to pug, if they want to group up they group up with friends, not the public!!

NO PLEASE NO!! I cant play a game where im forced to group with the random public. Sorry but thats a deal breaker for me.

more gear dependency might not be a bad thing, as long as those gear are readily available like GW1.

what we can potentially see is more variety of gear that can be tailored to different builds and situations.

0.°
I hope that was translated wrong...

thanks for posting that

liking the sound of it myself

Please say this is a horribly bad mistranslation and that PvP-only characters WILL be included

oh god that is frighting. i hated this in Diablo2. let me rephrase that,what i will hate is if i need to grind and find my armor. i don't care if i can craft it along with other professions armor (aka mix and match pices). but i will mind if i cant craft it.

No,sorry but you will actually have to play the whole game to get a "top" level toon this time

Ooookay so they lost the pvp-only players now. And people that enjoy possibility to create new character and go to GvG/HA/RA/TA/AB/HB with it.

I like when ppl cant read

"To keep this fair, all participating players will be taken to the same level. So you get all abilities, skills and equipment items, to be able to match the own team and the enemies."

No, they won't... but instead, your roleplaying character basically functions as a "PvP-only" in esport GvG-type environment. They have a fixed level, and can pick from all skills and equipment at that fixed level. (Auto-UAX)

Yes, look how good it worked for AoC.

This is a very bad idea in my opinion; PvP-Only Character allow players to quickly jump straight in to PvP; it sounds like here they plan to create world/FFA PvP and stuff that requires item grind to get.

Bad. 20 levels meant you could get to 20 and start having fun sooner. The longer it takes to hit max level, the more time wasted leveling, and the less overall enjoyment.

Guild Wars is better than that; I hope they do not appear in Gw2.

Let's hope that means there won't be mounts.

Crafting no, please no.

No, they haven't. They still perform much better than the drooling, idiotic wastes of flesh that are the average PUG players.

All in all it sounds like they're planning on moving Guild Wars 2 to be more like a standard MMO. IE taking out the great things that made Guild Wars unique, fun, and enjoyable, and putting in things like statistical item grind, races, world PvP, PvE-based PvP, etc; stuff to ruin it?

Guild Wars 2 may be the sequel to Guild Wars, but I have a feeling it will not be the spiritual successor. Anyone know of any games similar to GW1 in the works?

a "robust" craft system....

I've never seen that done right. I won't hold my breath on that front.

Ok guys, a quick translation, not much more, sorry. :

1. Open, persistant world:

- no monster camping (huh? Maybe they are talking about spawn camping bosses/monsters for loot and quest items, not sure)

- less generic quests
- no loot stealing
- fasttravel

2. Worlds instead of Servers (like GW1's US, EU, Jap etc.) and battles/wars between them. You can switch happily between them of course so you can meet up with friends anytime.

3. Character control and smoother, more intensem, action-packed battles

- more movement freedom as in jumping, swimming, climbing
- better camera controls (zooming closer onto your char)
- tactical depth is kept but with a lot less skills than GW1 to make it beginner-friendly
- skills have a bigger visual impact on the screen so you can differentiate their effectiveness without having to read descriptions.

4. Epic events/questlines:

- Dynamic quests (with rewards) that can begin anytime in a zone and will happen frequently (even at the same time) so that there's always action in this game and not just static instancing
- less difficulty for solo players (will rise if player joins a party!)


5. PvP

- NO PvP-Chars anymore! Everybody's playing with hisPvE Char.
- Wars between Worlds (Remember 2.!) over strategic points
- Pretty grandscale battles
- During GvG-Mode ALL players are on the same level (equipment-wise too) so only skill matters. Only during GvG, not in all the other PvP modes.

6. More complex character development:

- high level cap or no cap at all
- not sure yet if there's going to be "standard" RPG attributes like agility, strength and vitality
- robust crafting system
- weapons and amor play a much more significant role now and are not bound to classes anymore.

7. Companions/Heroes/Henchmen

- No Heroes and Henchmen anymore
- 1 companion max per player (doesn't take up a slot though)

no need to explain sidekicking

8. Graphics

Pretty overhauled graphics engine for up-to-date graphics and excellent performance too.

9. races and classes:

- yawn

and at the last:


Jeff Strain: SKILL OVER TIME regarding GvG (equipment, talents, attributes).

While they do this they have the total freedom to change GW1's weapon and armor system fundamentally. The time of "same function - different skin" is most likely over.

Screenshot required for that one.

I wasn't serious.

GW2's concept of "Skill over Time" applies to GvG only (that's all we know right now).

They are doing this in order to recreate and overhaul the weapons/armor system totally so you can expect real "epic loot" now.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Just because the cap is increasing doesn't mean you won't potentially be able to hit max (should there be a max) by the end/middle area of the game.

I hope there are alot changes between this interview and GW2 release, else I might just have to stick with D3 in the future.

Here is what I think the leveling system of GW2 will be like:

There will probably be a level cap at about 100. But when you get to say level 30 then you will stop gaining health/attribute points and you won't gain any benefits from higher levels, save getting skill points. Those extra levels will just show that you will have gained more experience then say player b.

For those saying "zomg no more PvP characters!?": If you enter a PvP area, your character will be treated as one. You'll be given full access to all equipment and skills, but not so when you leave the area. Aight?

For the crying about the game being made for the "casual gamer"...ummm, you do realize there are a lot more of them than you? With a lot more money?

I figure the level cap will be what is traditional in most MMO's, now, around 80. As for PvP taking their character through the game...you could always go and get yourself "pwn'ed" at AoC. Your char will be Level whatever when you go GvG. Otherwise...ever been on a PvP server before in any other game? They are just adapting things for persistent play, which, by the way, gives GW2 a better shelf life.

Speaking of AoC...the only "advance" they made was for melee classes. For casters...you might as well be a Tauren shaman. That and the cool carnage at the finish, which, as a TEEN-rated game, I doubt GW2 will have. I hope they don't follow AoC's example, as that game seems to be on the decline after 6 weeks of release.

It gave a good fleshing out on some aspects of the game. Too bad they had to dig out a German magazine to get anything new. Diablo 3 won't be out till 2010,and they have a half hour of vid footage. From Anet...? At this point, you have enough done, I would HOPE, to give a few screenies to feed us ravenous piranha. FEED ME!

if that was the case there would be no need for the sidekick system right?

'skill over time' is what killed PvE - there's really no way to set yourself apart from anyone else.

I'm fairly positive that the reason they haven't released anything is because they don't want a bunch of demanding critics (forum community, like Guru - I include myself here) to jump on the tiny flaws that may be found in such an insiginicant preview.

Example: Diablo 3.

The only news i can see is that a german magazine needed 14months to translate the PCGamer article from May 2007... am i missing anything?

did you not read it at all man. There are special GvG areas where you are automatically UAX'd while there and have everything. How much more QUICKLY JUMP INTO IT do you want..


Guild Wars technically has infinite levels, and I expect GW2 to use the same system (maybe raise the cap you "finish growing") but use it for something else...

Then again, the only reason for the cap in GW1 is to keep PvP balanced and fair, and since GW2 GvG areas give you max level or whatever, they will probably use it as a method of progression in PvE.


He says right after that line NO WE ARE STILL NOT USING THEM.



He said "Sure, I don't see why not?".

Crafting exists in GW1 already...

all in all it sounds like you don't get it. you don't even know the combat system or anything.

too bad it's an online game, you're supposed to play with other players. you aren't forced to play with PUGs, go play with friends or guildies.

Haha no more buyway to pvpdom. EVERYONE will now have to EARN their pvp status by playing the RPG portion of the game to get to the levels and the gear for PVP YAY I'm so happy about this. Once again TIME > SKILL will take precedence in GW2 as I've always suspected it would.

Not to me it wasn't and I've always said the game needed more loot oriented and evolving loot system than the boring 15^50 and +30hp stuff. Once again another thing I'm glad is changing in GW2.

People need to remember GW2 ISN'T A REMAKE of GW1 it is the EVOLUTION of GW1 and already sounds much better than GW1 to me.

Nothing really new.

However, some things were explained a bit more in detail.

The difference between GvG and World PvP e.g.. I also do not remember that there will not be PvP only chars anymore, only RP chars. But actually I think they already said this.

That equipment will be on an equal level in GvG was said, but that there will be significant equipment/gear differences in World PvP, plus again the statement that there might not even be a level cap....

... hooray! Eternal levelling! This is just what we all wanted. Plus a sidekick system to beam everyone with us up to our level. Too bad for the guys that do not have a level 10000 friend!


Plus a copy of World of Warcraft Battlegrounds. This is their idea of world pvp. Season 4 pvp gear vs "just got level 70 pve gear" player comes to mind (i.e. 2-hitting vs can't penetrate armor...^^).



Let's see if their events really work out to be that amazing.


I also do not see a unification of PvP with PvE, PvP gets even more separated in grand melee for everyone, world battles, vs GvG. GvG is then again a world of its own.



I am quite sceptical, this does not sound new or exciting, this seems to be another generic MMO, instance size and stuff probably like in Age of Conan.

Does not sound too GW-ish anymore, but probably nobody knows what GW was once about. People rarely can agree what attracted them to the game, but it was there - it was different.

Now they make such things and call the game "Guild Wars 2"...

'crafting' is a joke in GW1. He wouldn't mention crafting if it wasn't going to be better.

GW doesn't 'technically' have infinite levels, just because the game doesn't stop when you reach level 20...