I have a few questions :)

Zintinix Shoupthalus

Academy Page

Join Date: Feb 2005

http://www.xombic.com

22 Feb 2005 at 03:32 - 1
::This will be updated quite frequently as I think of more questions::

02-21-05

1.) How do the zones work in guild wars? It seems from what I have read and from what I have heard that the players are going to be separted most of the time in order to keep from kill stealing, etc. It seems as though so may divide the community if this is what is going to happen. Will I be able to log in and go to a zone of my choosing and hang out there (farm, talk, xp, etc)? Or will I have my own zone where I will have to do it with myself or my group? I know from my experiance with other mmorpg's that just hanging out with the people in a zone can be very fun and entertaining. How is this going to work in guild wars?

2.) Is there going to be an auction system? How will players freely trade and conduct commerce if the cities are going to be divided into districts? It seem as though we wont be able to shout that we are selling an item for everyone to hear. Also, lets say someone in a different district cathes wind that I am selling an item in district X, but they are in district Y, but district X is full and they can't get in. What happens then? It seems to me that communication between players is limited and that it may be very difficult to communicate with the other players of this wonderful game. Someone please inform me!

3.) What colors of dyes(sp?) are available? I personally would like to be strutting pink armor, but something tells me that pink won't be an option for my armor color.

4.) Will I be able to color my weapons?

5.) Can I change my appearance later in game if I decide I don't like the way I look?

6.) I am assuming that level 20 is hard to get in Guild Wars because it is the level cap for the moment. Will the level cap ever be raised?

7.) Expansions. What kind of release on expansions are we looking at? I remember the game's release date being in Feb at one point in 2004. It seems as though the dev. team is doing a good job and making sure that a quality game is produced. Will they take this kind of time for expansions so that the public has time to experiance the game and will they take the time to make sure there are as little bugs as possible? I personally do not mind if it takes them a year to create an expansion as long as I have content to use and there are minamal bugs. Coming from a programming background I know that there are bound to be bugs and I am not one to complain when there are bugs unless they effect the gameplay and my experiance in game by a great margin. Put simply, I want to know how expansions are going to be produced.

8.) Obviously Guild Wars revolves around guilds, but there are going to be issues of getting into guilds because every guild is going to want the best people to fight for them so they may reach the top of the ladder. How is this going to work? Who is going to help out that new player in a world where elitism rules. It seems to me that the Guild Wars community is going to be very unfriendly and uninviting to new players. It seems as though you are going to need to pick this game up on release and make sure you are a high level so you can enjoy what everyone else is enjoying. This is a scary though. What if my friends decide to join, but they cannot get anywhere because others are rejecting them? I of course will help them the best I can, but I won't always be there. This is a very scary and possibly very scary realization.

9.) Where will guild wars take place? Where are the battles between guilds going to take place and how is this area to be decided? Are there castles? Do you defend your guild hall? What is going to happen?

10.) Is there any protection against people taking advantage of the game and Powerleveling? This is an issue is a lot of games and from my very limited knowledge it is possible in Guild Wars.


:::THANKS FOR READING!!!:::

~Zintinix Shoupthalus

Sausaletus Rex

Sausaletus Rex

Death From Above

Join Date: Dec 2004

22 Feb 2005 at 04:09 - 2
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zintinix Shoupthalus
::This will be updated quite frequently as I think of more questions::
No, in point of fact, it won't, if you'd like to have more questions answered you should post in our Questions and Answers board. There you can find answers to all sorts of things, including a few of your questions below. Here, you will soon find that while we're a friendly and helpful forum these boards do not exist solely to provide you with the answers to questions you can discover yourself with a bit of looking.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zintinix Shoupthalus
1.) How do the zones work in guild wars?
All zones or maps in GW are instanced. There's a maximum cap on the number of people who can be in any one instance and when that number is reached the map is split, a new instance is created, and there are two - or more - identical maps for everyone to use. Some instances are created only for you or your party, such as missions, while others will be created so you and your party can fight another party, such as most PvP maps, and sitll others are large central maps where great numbers of people can gather, such as a town or the lobby to a mission.

Not everyone will be able to be in the same map as everyone else but because there are no servers everyone is *in* the same world, just in separate instances. You can guild chat with other uild members no matter what instance you're in and you can likewise whisper anyone currently playing the game. Lobbies, which can be found near any cooperative or competitive mission, and towns are gather places, where you can meet new people and team up or get together with friends before heading out to have some fun, or trade and whatever.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zintinix Shoupthalus
2.) Is there going to be an auction system?
Probably not, no. There are NPC merchants who'll buy and sell common goods and materials. Everything else is left to players to make individual trades. It's a system that needs work but there's nothing else in game right now than that.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zintinix Shoupthalus
3.) What colors of dyes(sp?) are available?
Red, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, silver, and black. They can be mixed to create other colors.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zintinix Shoupthalus
4.) Will I be able to color my weapons?
Yes. Although most weapons don't tend to dye very well, in my experience.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zintinix Shoupthalus
5.) Can I change my appearance later in game if I decide I don't like the way I look?
If you mean your face or height, no. You can change your armor and items and dye to look differently but if you want different colored hair, you'll have to reroll.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zintinix Shoupthalus
6.) I am assuming that level 20 is hard to get in Guild Wars because it is the level cap for the moment. Will the level cap ever be raised?
You assume incorrectly. lv20 should actually be fairly easy to reach. Within 20~30 hours of playing time, if that. GW is not about leveling, GW is about what you do once you're done leveling. Reaching the cap isn't the end of the game, it's the beginning. You'll continue to gain XP, skill points, items, skills, wealth, fame, and more long after you hit the maximum level.

No one konws what the developers will do but raising the cap currently is highly unlikely. Perhaps in the next expansion, but I seriously doubt it, as that means everyone without an expansion won't be able to reach that higher level (or won't have access to zones balanced for their higher levels) and in GW retaining that competitve balance that makes it so skill is as important to winning as everything else is paramount in the developer's concerns.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zintinix Shoupthalus
7.) Expansions. What kind of release on expansions are we looking at?
Expansions or new chapters are reportedly going to be released every 6~9 months from the initial release. That means, since release is in April, we could possibly see an expansion by September. I seriously doubt that it will be a 6 month turn around, though. The plan is, after release, to have the development team split into two parts. One will tend to the live game, making sure any problems are ironed out and hopefully adding updates and new content. The other will begin work on the expansion. Once the expansion is released they'll trade off. The live team will get to work on chapter 3 and the expansion team will become the new live team.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zintinix Shoupthalus
8.) Obviously Guild Wars revolves around guilds, but there are going to be issues of getting into guilds because every guild is going to want the best people to fight for them so they may reach the top of the ladder. How is this going to work? Who is going to help out that new player in a world where elitism rules. It seems to me that the Guild Wars community is going to be very unfriendly and uninviting to new players. It seems as though you are going to need to pick this game up on release and make sure you are a high level so you can enjoy what everyone else is enjoying. This is a scary though. What if my friends decide to join, but they cannot get anywhere because others are rejecting them? I of course will help them the best I can, but I won't always be there. This is a very scary and possibly very scary realization.
You can always start your own guild. There's a cap on guild membership in Guild Wars and it's there for precisely this kind of reason. You and your friends and people you meet can just up and form your own guild. Not every guild needs to be competitive. Not every guild is going to want to get to the top of the ladder. A guild is whatever you make of it and it can be nothing more than a group of friends and acquaintances out to have a good time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zintinix Shoupthalus
9.) Where will guild wars take place? Where are the battles between guilds going to take place and how is this area to be decided? Are there castles? Do you defend your guild hall? What is going to happen?
At the moment guild wars or GvG battles happen in a map called the Guild Hall. You go there, form a party, and find an opponent, then you enter into an instance where each of you has a guild hall and a guild lord to defend. When your Guild Lord dies, you lose. There's reportedly going to be more maps available in the future.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zintinix Shoupthalus
10.) Is there any protection against people taking advantage of the game and Powerleveling? This is an issue is a lot of games and from my very limited knowledge it is possible in Guild Wars.
Powerleveling doesn't matter so much in GW. Leveling is a quick and painless process. While it's certainly true that some people can level better than others as well as get help from other, more powerful players, they don't gain that much because the max is not hard to reach.

The real problems come frm economic exploits and issues rising from farming and item drops. Everything happens in an instance so there's no camping or kill stealing but players and groups that have the time or resources have a much better chance at getting better equipment and more wealth than your average player.

Cicciro

Banned

Join Date: Feb 2005

22 Feb 2005 at 04:12 - 3
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zintinix Shoupthalus
::This will be updated quite frequently as I think of more questions::

02-21-05

1.) How do the zones work in guild wars? It seems from what I have read and from what I have heard that the players are going to be separted most of the time in order to keep from kill stealing, etc. It seems as though so may divide the community if this is what is going to happen. Will I be able to log in and go to a zone of my choosing and hang out there (farm, talk, xp, etc)? Or will I have my own zone where I will have to do it with myself or my group? I know from my experiance with other mmorpg's that just hanging out with the people in a zone can be very fun and entertaining. How is this going to work in guild wars?

[COLOR=DarkRed]You're right. They do divide the community quite a bit, but this isn't the social meca that all other MMORPGs are... sadly. The only spots to really "hang out" at are towns and maybe guild halls. Towns have a maximum of X amount of people before another instance will open up, then there will be another instance of the town where people will be. There is not one persistent area in the game where everyone can go and meet up. Your best bet for hanging out is your guild hall or in town if you can have a few friends come to District X.[/COLOR]

2.) Is there going to be an auction system? How will players freely trade and conduct commerce if the cities are going to be divided into districts? It seem as though we wont be able to shout that we are selling an item for everyone to hear. Also, lets say someone in a different district cathes wind that I am selling an item in district X, but they are in district Y, but district X is full and they can't get in. What happens then? It seems to me that communication between players is limited and that it may be very difficult to communicate with the other players of this wonderful game. Someone please inform me!

[COLOR=DarkRed]We do not know if anything will happen with the trade system at this point. Something is in the works, but the specifics are unknown to us. You can say anything to the whole district, unless you can somehow know who is in District Y and whisper them, you won't be talking to them. A good salesman will wait in a district for a while, then move to another one whent he pace starts to slow. Communication is impossible in this game outside of your friends, guild mates and those in your instance. You won't be talking to random joe in District Seven if you are in Six.[/COLOR]

3.) What colors of dyes(sp?) are available? I personally would like to be strutting pink armor, but something tells me that pink won't be an option for my armor color.

[COLOR=DarkRed]All colors are available. Silver, Black, Blue, Purple, Yellow, Green, Red, Orage. From there, you can mix dyes accordingly (sliver lightens and shines, black darkens).[/COLOR]

4.) Will I be able to color my weapons?

[COLOR=DarkRed]Parts of them can be dyed. Each item has certain areas that the dye will cover, not the whole item.[/COLOR]

5.) Can I change my appearance later in game if I decide I don't like the way I look?

[COLOR=DarkRed]Not currently.[/COLOR]

6.) I am assuming that level 20 is hard to get in Guild Wars because it is the level cap for the moment. Will the level cap ever be raised?

[COLOR=DarkRed]Hopefully not. Guild Wars isn't about levels, it is about competitive play. Being the highest level isn't the goal, so why raise the level cap? Remember, just because the numbers go up, doesn't mean killing monsters won't be a challenge. They can add higher level monsters or more challenging groups of monsters suited for level twenty. The numbers are just there for looks, and really don't mean anything in any game.[/COLOR]

7.) Expansions. What kind of release on expansions are we looking at? I remember the game's release date being in Feb at one point in 2004. It seems as though the dev. team is doing a good job and making sure that a quality game is produced. Will they take this kind of time for expansions so that the public has time to experiance the game and will they take the time to make sure there are as little bugs as possible? I personally do not mind if it takes them a year to create an expansion as long as I have content to use and there are minamal bugs. Coming from a programming background I know that there are bound to be bugs and I am not one to complain when there are bugs unless they effect the gameplay and my experiance in game by a great margin. Put simply, I want to know how expansions are going to be produced.

[COLOR=DarkRed]Every 6-9 months for an expansion. This is their business model. This is how the game will survive. The content they have stated will be on par with what is going into release, with new skills and possibly a new class.[/COLOR]

8.) Obviously Guild Wars revolves around guilds, but there are going to be issues of getting into guilds because every guild is going to want the best people to fight for them so they may reach the top of the ladder. How is this going to work? Who is going to help out that new player in a world where elitism rules. It seems to me that the Guild Wars community is going to be very unfriendly and uninviting to new players. It seems as though you are going to need to pick this game up on release and make sure you are a high level so you can enjoy what everyone else is enjoying. This is a scary though. What if my friends decide to join, but they cannot get anywhere because others are rejecting them? I of course will help them the best I can, but I won't always be there. This is a very scary and possibly very scary realization.

[COLOR=DarkRed]That isn't A.nets decision. Let the players decide the politics of the game. Is that a bad thing? No, it is what makes the world go round. People will be people, find your niche group and don't ask A.net to regulate guilds.[/COLOR]

9.) Where will guild wars take place? Where are the battles between guilds going to take place and how is this area to be decided? Are there castles? Do you defend your guild hall? What is going to happen?

[COLOR=DarkRed]Guild Wars, that was a war that went on years before the events in the game take place. Guilds battle it out at their guild halls currently with a map that syncs up to another guild hall (similar design, just a mirror image of eachother basically. The battle starts, and the goal is to kill the other teams Guild Lord. If you do that you win and you gain some points on the ladder. Guild battles are really lacking at the moment. There is no variety. This is something they said they will address.[/COLOR]

10.) Is there any protection against people taking advantage of the game and Powerleveling? This is an issue is a lot of games and from my very limited knowledge it is possible in Guild Wars.

[COLOR=DarkRed]There will be protection against hackers and probably exploiters, but when you get into exploiting things become relative and I would rather A.net took careful judgement in these cases. Getting into a wall? Fix the way they did it, no need to delete accounts over that. Hacking the game? Ban them. As far as powerleveling is concerned, who the RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO cares buddy? This is a competitive game, let people play competitively.[/COLOR]


:::THANKS FOR READING!!!:::

~Zintinix Shoupthalus
All of my answers are in "Dark Red." Enjoy.

Zintinix Shoupthalus

Academy Page

Join Date: Feb 2005

http://www.xombic.com

22 Feb 2005 at 13:51 - 4
Thank you for all your responses. Something I would just like to point out is that I am not all about reaching the highest level. I am for the fun. I just didn't want that to be a widely spread misconception to my name. Thanks for reading!

EDIT: Oh, I forgot to say that I realized after posting this that I should have posted it in the help forum. I know it looks bad, but I thought it would look even worse if I reposted it there. On most forums it would seem as if I was trying to raise my post count (which means absolutely nothing to me). Sorry for the trouble I am hoping a moderator or an administrator will move this to the correct forum. Once agian thanks for the replies, it has really helped. I am definately going to be buying now that I have this information.

Thanks for reading!

~Zintinix Shoupthalus