The Guild Wars Franchise

This being my first blog, I figured that I would talk about Guild Wars and a little about Guild Wars 2.
There is so much hype surrounding the launch of Guild Wars 2 right now and with good cause. Let's take a look back at where the franchise started, and where it is going. It will be a good time, I promise.

The founders of Arena Net came from Blizzard Entertainment. They had worked on the Warcraft, Star Craft, Diablo, Diablo 2 and Battle Net. They were key players in the success of mentioned game franchises. Their first company name was Triforge, but they changed their name to Arena Net and were acquired by NC Soft shortly there after.

 

The first game that the newly formed Arena Net worked on was Guild Wars. I remember when the game first came out. At the time I was playing World of Warcraft and like all gamers I was looking for something new at the time.( We tend to have ADHD when it comes to games ya know?) Of course I'm still playing World of Warcraft now but that's another blog for another time. So there I was looking in the video game aisle and there was this box with killer art work on it.

Beautiful Ain't She?

My interest was definitely peeked! What was so killer about the box was the fact that it had a velcro flap the reveled a killer screen shot, add in some cool descriptions and I was sold. The main thing about it was the fact that it said there was no subscription fee. I thought to my self "Huh? How could that be?!?" The game is online, and you can PVP and PVE in a world with friends or make new ones. Whats the catch? As I soon discovered there really wasn't one.

I got home and began installing my new muse. I though I would be downloading for at least an hour or 2, you know patches and such. To my surprised I took all of 45 minutes. I was shocked, and granted I did not have the best internet connection at the time. 

What blew my mind first was the graphics. At the time Guild Wars system requirements read right in parallel with World of Warcraft's. How the hell could they have pulled off such an amazing feat was beyond me. The log on screen looked fantastic!

So there I was; I selected my profession, ( In Guild Wars speak that would mean class), and I was staring at a beautiful looking character. Already. If I remember correctly I think my first profession was a necromancer. At this point I couldn't wait to see what the game world looked like.

I was happily surprised at just how beautiful the game world was. There was an awesome opening cinematic that used the game engine rather than it being a video file. It laid the ground work for the story and where your character fit in the grand scheme of things. For 2005 those graphics were ahead of their time. Back then PC hardware was just a tad behind what the console market was already doing. Even today Guild War's graphics still hold their own. I'm still in awe of the game even now.

There are plenty of differences between what MMO's where about at the time and this little game called Guild Wars. Firstly Guild Wars was not a persistent world game. Some of you may think that this is a bad thing. Not really. The way Guild Wars worked was that your towns and outposts were where you interacted with the community. Where groups where formed, guilds recruited and trading took place. The areas in which you ran missions, performed quests etc... was all instanced. This helped in not getting your quest objectives taken, which in regular MMO's quest objectives could be taken by other players and you would end up waiting around until it respawned. On the flip side this also caused the world to feel a little dead. Its always fun to see others out in the world going here and there. Doing quests or working on there trade skills etc. Now you can go into the world in a group which is always fun. But you are not always going to be in a group all the time. 

It is also easy for you to join your friends wherever they are. Select the region from the drop down and POOF you're there! Also traveling from city to city, town to town, outpost to outpost was all done via porting there. No running forever or traveling for long periods. It was get there, and get playing a.s.a.p.

The same philosophy in traveling the world also translated into how you leveled and what the level cap was. Arena Net did not want you to grind levels. It wasn't about who could get to level cap the fastest, there was a level cap of 20. Crazy huh? The deal was, the game was about acquiring skills. There where well over 250-300 skills per profession. The interface only allowed for 8 of those skills to be used. That's where Guild Wars shined the most I think. The game was not based around gear. There was level capped gear and also different sets that could be made, but this had little bearing on how it effected your character. Weapons had a little more of an effect, it was helpful to have a few "Green" weapons. ( Guild Wars Epic's). But really it was all about acquiring those epic skills and having the best rotation for your given professions. Oh did I say profession(s)? Yes! You could make a warrior/monk, or a ranger/necromancer, or a mesmer/elementalist, as an example. It was a very cool way to mix and match and try different things.

The game also included various cut scenes as you ran missions. I thought that was a nice touch, it kind of reminded me of single player games. The whole game felt very 'cozy' if you know what I mean. It just felt compact, clean and very accessible. I think that was the appeal, that and the fact that there was not a monthly fee helped.

Was the game supported? Why yes! There where all kinds of skill updates, buffs, nerfs, the usual fare. Also they incorporated holidays, festivals, etc.

The game itself grew. Prophecies was the original game, after that they released Factions, Nightfall and the only "expansion" for the series Eye of the North.

Factions

NightFall

Eye of the North

What was very cool about these is that Arena Net made them all accessible in game. They added a "ship" to the map that allowed you to travel between the games, except for Eye of the North. That was the only product where you had to have Prophecies installed and a level 20 character to travel to. Since there is not a monthly fee you had to buy the games and add them to your account. Each game did not need the others to work, minus Eye of the North. Factions and Night Fall each introduced new professions and starting experiences in their own right, and each had there own story to tell. Eye of the North introduced new NPC factions that you will be able to play in Guild Wars 2! It also introduced the Hall of Monuments.

I wanna go where everybody knows your name..

What is the Hall of Monuments you might ask? Well its a place where your Guild Wars character can save his/her achievements in game. Why is that important and why dedicate so much to something like achievements. Let me tell you why..

 

That's right Guild Wars 2! We will discuss this in a little bit. First I would like to touch upon Guild Wars PVP.

Granted I did not PVP much but Arena Net really broke some ground here. Let me explain. 

At character creation you could make either a PVE character ( Starting at level 1) or a max level (Level 20) PVP character. The only catch was your PVP character did not have all the skills available. You had to use your PVE character to attain them, then they where "unlocked". 

There are different types of PVP. When you created your PVP character you start off on one of many PVP islands, all with different types of arenas. There were different objectives for each. I think my favorite was Guild Vs. Guild, where your Guild can acquire a guild hall and surrounding landscape.

Home sweet home.

The Guild Hall could then be used for PVE and PVP. Guild Vs Guild was a lot of fun and a great way to play the game. Mind you I do not have a lot of experience with it, but what I did experience was really unique and fun.

Being that Guild Wars was such an 'Untypical" MMO, the end game was as well. The typical MMO had you grind dungeons with a raid group, with the main objective being to obtain epic gear. It was all about gear with those games. While there is nothing wrong with running dungeons for gear as the end game, Guild Wars took a different approach to their end game.

When you finished a campaign you got rewarded with a set of gear, ( from what I remember). Arena Net also added a dungeon to Prophecies that could be ran with a group. They incorporated this for Night Fall and added a few more in Eye of the North. Factions I cant remember, but running those got you more elite skills and those sought after Green weapons. The gist of the Guild Wars universe was story, acquiring skills and learning how best to play your character.

Since the launch, Guild Wars has added a lot of content in forms of stand alone games, cash shop and over all content updates that in most cases were free.

The cash shop was utilized in a way that didn't make your character over powered in PVE or PVP, it added enhancements to your characters look, added new stories to run though, etc. Now the cash shop does offer skill unlocks, but it does not offer any elite skills. That is a good thing.

 

How did Guild Wars 2 come about? After the development of Night Fall, Arena Net was beginning work on another stand alone game for Guild Wars called Utopia. What they found is that the skills where becoming out of hand. It just became too much to manage. Also the scope of what they where doing was expanding, and they found that Guild Wars had restraints that made it difficult to add new and fun game play ideas. So they developed Eye of the North as an expansion and added some new content and some new skills. They also were starting concept work on Guild Wars 2 at the same time. Luckily they found a way to incorporate your character in Guild Wars with the new character you create in Guild Wars 2. Plus they added new races that where going to be playable in Guild Wars 2. Sort of like an introduction, with some back story. Char, Norn and Asura.

The best way they found to incorporate your old character from Guild Wars was to add the Hall of Monuments. As I stated earlier in this post the Hall of Monuments kept a record of your characters achievements, since Guild Wars 2 take place 250 years after the Eye of the North. In essence you will be creating a new character that has ties to your original character in Guild Wars. Think of it as your original character in Guild Wars is a distant relative to your new character in Guild Wars 2.

Your new character in Guild Wars 2 will get perks from the achievements your old character in Guild Wars attained. Its a neat way to motivate the current players to get as many of the achievements as possible. It also added re-playability.

Guild Wars 2 will be a persistent open world, with different races you can play. Its going to be like the MMO's you are used to. The main difference is the business model is going to remain the same. You buy the game and can play it with no subscription fee. That in itself will be a major draw for players.

The world in Guild Wars 2 will also be dynamic and changing. Quests will happen around you, instead of you starting them by interacting with an NPC.

Closed Beta will be happening soon, with a successful press beta event things are looking  great. I for one cannot wait to jump in. I will be doing more blogs about Guild Wars 2 in the future. If you want to know more you can go here: http://www.guildwars2.com/en/ You will find info, news, screenshots and concept art.

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© 2011 ArenaNet, Inc. All rights reserved. NCsoft, the interlocking NC logo, ArenaNet, Arena.net, Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions, Factions, Guild Wars Nightfall, Nightfall, Guild Wars: Eye of the North, Eye of the North, Guild Wars 2, and all associated logos and designs are trademarks or registered trademarks of NCsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.