Guild Wars 2 out later this year, beta expanding in spring
The first closed beta phase for Guild Wars 2 has ended, according to a new post on the ArenaNet blog. The team are now ready to “aggressively ramp up the size of our beta test events” from March onwards ahead of a full release later this year.
Guild Wars 2 beta goes live today for a select few
In an Ask Me Anything Q&A on Reddit yesterday, Guild Wars 2 systems designer Jon Peters revealed that the MMO “will officially enter Closed Beta Testing this Friday.” It will only be open to a few carefully selected candidates, for now.
“Based on the feedback we get from our current Closed Beta Testing, we will determine the next phases of our beta program in which we will open beta access to more people,” he wrote
Guild Wars 2 Mesmer revealed, can summon clones armed with magic shotguns
As expected, the latest Profession to be revealed for Guild Wars 2 is the Mesmer. As you might expect from the name, Mesmers specialise in using mind tricks and illusion to defeat their enemies. It’s a less subtle art than you might expect. Auras of invisibility and doppelganger companions are all standard fare for your average combat magician. It’s the portal/laser beam sword combination that really sells the profession. It looks perfect for some high level PvP trolling and, with skill names like “Chaos Storm” and “Mind Wrack,” feels like a powerful addition to the Guild Wars 2 roster.
You can find out more about the specific abilities the Mesmer will be able to wield on the new Mesmer section of the Guild Wars 2 site. Meanwhile, here are twelve new screenshots of the various Mesmer warriors from the trailer above.
Guild Wars 2 leaked video reveals Mesmer as the next profession
Prepare to be Mesmer-ized. Yes, the regal Mesmer is the final profession to join the Guild Wars 2 class catalog. GamesReactor Denmark seems to have accidentally jumped the gun, posting the class trailer this morning, a few days ahead of the planned Wednesday morning announcement time. While not the most surprising of reveals, the leaked video shows off some fantastic-looking skills like teleportation, ethereal exploding clones, and even an area-of-effect invisibility spell. I’m guessing someone in Denmark wishes they were a Mesmer right about now.
The leaked video has since been removed, but according Guild Wars 2′s official twitter account, more information on our favorite illusionists will be revealed Wednesday. I guess it’s time to dust off my collection of fancy suits and mind bullets.
ArenaNet explains Guild Wars 2 combos, pets, and some class features
Guild Wars 2 developer Jon Peters just posted some interesting information on specific gameplay systems that players will use in the game, including an exciting description of Guild Wars 2′s combo system and a good explanation of how pets will work.
Combos work by having one character, the Initiator, create an area of effect that modifies actions performed within it. The second character, the Finisher, then performs and action that takes on new properties within the area of effect. As anyone who had played Magicka could have told them, ArenaNet discovered that stacking combinations was “incredibly overpowered.”
Guild Wars 2 beta to arrive “this year for sure,” new footage shows public quests and PvP
Lead content designer on Guild Wars 2, Colin Johanson has told Eurogamer that Guild Wars 2 is on track to go into beta by the end of this year. It’s currently in closed friends and family alpha testing. The success of the closed beta phase will decide the date of the open beta, and the eventual release date next year.
“If we tear through the beta and everything’s super positive then obviously it’ll come out faster. And if we go into the beta process and we see things we want to change, then we have the luxury of having the time to be able to sit down and fix that stuff,” said Johanson. “We really don’t know when release is going to be, because we want time to react to things and upgrade and everything.”
There’s no way to register for a place on the beta yet. The best way to keep abreast of beta announcements is to sign up for the Guild Wars 2 newsletter on the official Guild Wars 2 site. Johanson confirms one thing for certain, “we’re going to go into closed beta by the end of this year for sure.”
Guild Wars 2 got a showing at the Eurogamer Expo this weekend, and RPS have highlighted 40 odd minutes of footage, showing The Cynical Brit’s Total Biscuit battling through public quests and a bit of PvP as both a Sylvari Necromancer and a sneaky Norn. You’ll find the videos embedded below.
Guild Wars 2 Asura interview part two: Love and Inquest
Asura may be tiny, but this interview with ArenaNet’s Jeff Grubb and Ree Soesbee (game and content designers for Guild Wars 2) was so large we had to split it into two parts. Part 1 focused on the magical floating city of Rata Sum. In this section we focus more on the lore of the minuscule warriors along with a few bonuses. Read on to get more info on the amazing race that connected all of Tyria.
Guild Wars 2 Asura interview part one: Rata Sum, the floating city
Yesterday, NCsoft and ArenaNet released a metric ton of info on the egotistical race of mini-geniuses known as the Asura, one of the many playable races in Guild Wars 2. Earlier this week, we sat down with Game and Content Designers Jeff Grubb and Ree Soesbee to talk about the smallest sentient beings of Tyria. In part one of this two-part post, we gleam insight on the Asura capital city, Rata Sum, and the golems that act as the brawn to the Asuras’ brains.
Guild Wars 2 trailer and screenshots show off the Asura
The Asura are the tiniest of Guild Wars 2′s races, and the most likely to frolic around the place making merriment. They seem to live in a giant stone Rubik’s Cube held together by magic and giggles. They do demand some respect, however, on account of their exceptional intelligence, engineering talent and tendency to roll around battlefields in giant magical mech suits with golem companions.
They’ve got quite a torrid history, too, detailed in the updated Asura page on the Guild Wars 2 website. The Asura used to live underground, until they accidentally burrowed into the home of an Elder Dragon champion known as The Great Destroyer. That did not end well. Now they live in gravity-warping palaces that hang above the planet and use their high-tech portals to travel from land to land.
ArenaNet reveal more about how they set about creating the Asura’s extraordinary homelands in their Asura environments blog post. You can see how the concept art turned out in the five screenshots below, which also show some of their pleasingly stompy magical golems.
Guild Wars 2 will let players host their own PvP arenas
That’s according to MMORPG.com, which caught up with the developers over PAX. No real details are available on exactly what form these will take, thought MMORPG.com reports the plan is “for players to be able to create and host their own servers or games with specific rule-sets”. The obvious is for would be arena and PvP matches, but there’s no reason it couldn’t extend to other modes too.
These servers are unlikely to be player-hosted dedicated servers though, with simply allowing groups to claim and configure an instance much more likely – and while a full on supported modding community would be incredible, it’s far more likely that your management will be about selecting presets and locking strangers out with a password. With ArenaNet in charge though, nothing is certain…
Guild Wars 2 trailer shows sea dragon, huge robot, shouty giant
The new Guild Wars 2 trailer may start out slow, but don’t let it fool you. At around the two minute mark a bloody great dragon jumps out of the sea, then the epic score kicks in and and the real action begins. There’s some satisfyingly physical combat on show, along with some of the enormous bosses they mentioned before. In addition to the sea dragon there’s a gigantic steampunk robot who fires eye beams and a massive, stompy giant who bellows in the faces of the party in a true brown trousers moment.
Plus there’s airships, classical music and someone firing two pistols in slow motion. What more could you possibly ask for? Check out our preview to learn more.
Guild Wars 2 Gamescom demo to reveal major skill changes, Charr starting area, giant bosses
ArenaNet designer Jon Peters has been writing on the Guild Wars 2 dev blog about a number of big changes and additions we can expect to see in the Guild Wars 2 Gamescom demonstration this week. Read on for news on the new skill system and an overview of the new areas and bosses ArenaNet will be showing in Cologne.
Guild Wars 2 trailer introduces the Sylvari race
It’s Sylvari week on the Guild Wars 2 site. Yesterday we posted some screenshots and concept art of the new race. The video above gives us a look at the Sylvari in their natural habitat, a giant sentient tree from which every member of the elf-like race are born. The Sylvari don’t just wear leaves, they are leaves, which raises interesting questions. Do they eat sunlight and expel oxygen? Find out more about the Sylvari on the ArenaNet blog.
Guild Wars 2 Sylvari week introduces new race of plant people
The ArenaNet blog will be hosting articles and screenshots on the newest addition to the Guild Wars 2 universe, the leafy Sylvari race. According to ArenaNet artist Kristen Perry, the brief for the new race boiled down to three words: “noble, beautiful, plant.” You can read about the challenges of creating a race made of foliage on Perry’s blog post, which also contains plenty of concept art. Writer Angel McCoy reveals more about the new race here. Check out the new screenshots and concept art from Sylvari week below.
Guild Wars 2 trailers show underwater combat, dungeons detailed
ArenaNet have dropped more info on how dungeons will work in Guild Wars 2. The world of Tyria will contain eight instanced group missions, made gradually available from level 35 onwards. Each dungeon has a story mode and an exploration mode. Once dungeon’s story has been completed, groups will be able to pick their choice of three advanced explorable versions of that dungeon. Each version will come with different challenges, including new boss fights and enemies.
The dungeons are completely optional, but come with their own background and storylines and are packed full of loot. The trailer above sets up the catacombs, inhabited by the ghosts of a dead army, cursed by their jerk of a king to defend the city until the end of time. VG247 have eight minutes of footage of a team battling their way through the catacombs. It also gives us a glimpse of the underwater combat ArenaNet recently revealed. You’ll find the video embedded below.
