The guys over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun recently got a chance to talk with Mike Zadorojny about jumping puzzles in an MMO. With the addition of Vistas in the most recent Beta Weekend we’ve seen a plethora of basic jumping puzzles in order to reach this points.
For vistas, all of them are in very platform-y locations. We try and keep them fairly easy, because for map completion, we don’t want it to be, like, a game of absolute skill where only the best players can do it. Also, we realize that a lot of players can’t do those things due to motion sickness and stuff like that, so we try to make the map completion stuff accessible.
He also discussed how these types of puzzles fit in the fantasy realm and they can make use of the environment to keep the player immersed.
The treasure chests and the jumping puzzles definitely become more interesting, where we’ll throw interesting mechanics like… the one for the Asura starting area is up in the clouds, up in the sky. So as you’re walking across this thin branch, you’ll see wind going across it. And if you go across as it’s blowing, it’ll knock you off and you’ll fall below.
Check out the full article for all the details here.
The following document was found pinned to corpse of an engineer…with a knife. It has been edited to remove a number of the fiercest insults and due to a considerable blood stain. Engineers are advised by AETA leadership to read this at their own risk. Readers should be knowledgeable of the clear bias and unfounded opinions expressed in the following summary of Engineering tools, skill and general play.
My Dear Engineers,
Salutations. This is Wormwood, Leader of the Guild of Thieves…
Over the past three days, I have been amongst your kind, Engineers. In order to better understand you, and perhaps even find someway to overcome you, I have studied your tool, your weapons, and your equipment. Somewhat surprisingly, I have to admit gaining some grudging admiration for you ingenuity and inventiveness, and because of this, I feel strangely driven to let you know what I have found.
Surprised, Thieves? It is I, Tentral! Tinkerer extraordinaire, almighty alchemist, explosives expert and leader of the AETA! Do not worry about your precious Wormwood, no harm has befallen him…to my knowledge. He has foolishly decided to thieve away my thunder in the Engineer spotlight, so I’ve decided to return the…favor. (more…)
In anticipation of the fast approaching release, ArenaNet has just published a series of four videos focusing on some of the core mechanics of Guild Wars 2, and how their outcome has been influence by their original design philosophy. Building on the ideas introduced to us in the “MMO Manifesto” video, numerous members of the Guild Wars 2 team (including Colin Johanson, Ree Soesbee, Jon Peters, Jonathan Sharp, and many others) discuss the ideas behind dynamic events, your personal story, structured PvP, and combat mechanics.
It great to see this series of follow-ups to the video that got me, personally, interested in Guild Wars 2 from the start, and again have a chance to hear the design philosophy behind Guild Wars 2′s mechanics from the people who designed them.
And of course, ArenaNet had to leave us a cliffhanger…
“Wait a second, what about world vs. world?” you may ask.
That my friends, is a video for another day…
Follow the link to the Original ArenaNet Blog with all four videos, including those covering combat and sPvP…
Using the average human height and a bit of math, we managed to plot out this chart that shows the minimum and maximum heights for each race. Give or take an inch or so for each one, as we had to round up or down depending on decimals. For anybody that is curious, the minimum heights for each race are all female, while the maximum are all males.
Be sure to click on the image to get the full picture.
We have known for a while now about the Hall of Monuments, a physical place in Eye of The North for players to view their accomplishments while gaining items, titles, pets, and skins for Guild Wars 2. We have also known that accomplishments in it are tied via a point system to unlocking items in Guild Wars 2 when it comes out in a month.
Now, on ArenaNet’s website, we get to see exclusive footage of some of those items and a new guide by Content Designer John Stumme.
In the guide, he goes over steps on how to achieve the item you want in the most efficient and easiest way possible.
Like all decisions, you need to declare a goal. This goal can be that one item or title you really want or a skin that defines who your character is. From here John was nice enough to describe one of the easiest starting points and that is the “Honor” monument:
The first place to start is the “Honor” monument. This is the monument that allows you to dedicate titles and achievements related to gameplay. A natural place to start is with the Eternal Hero of Tyria/Cantha/Elona achievements. You’ll earn these for finishing the campaign of Prophecies, Factions, and Nightfall, respectively. Just by playing through and finishing the story normally, you’re guaranteed to get one thing that you can dedicate to your Hall of Monuments. It doesn’t sound like much, does it? But let’s take a look at what that first achievement will get you.
By dedicating one achievement in the Honor monument, you will immediately get the “Any Statue” progress, which by itself is worth 2 points. In addition, for having used the Hall of Monuments, you’ll also receive the “Accounts Linked” progress, which is worth 3 points. Just by these actions, you’ve earned yourself 5 points out of 50, your first title along the Hall of Monuments reward track, and you’re only one point away from having the complete set of Heritage armor skins!
There are a number of other routes players will find both in the guide and the game so make sure to check it out if you find yourself lost or needing a little help. Also check out the full video to get an idea of what these amazing items look like!
Finally stop by the forums and let us know how far along you are to achieving that new shiny.
Dontain is at it again, but this time he’s showing off the dungeon armor for all sexes and races. Take note, as he mentions in the video, some sets do not have shoulder pads at the time of this video. We should see them down the road, but at the moment no shoulder love.
Let us know in the forums if ArenaNet has the right direction for look or were you hoping for something more flashy?
Beginning 3pm EST and going for roughly an hour, Mike “Z-Axis” Zadorojny, Quality Assurance Manager and Content Designer for ArenaNet will be answering reader questions over at Kotaku.
Head over to Kotaku for your chance to have Mike Z bestow some glorious Guild Wars 2 knowledge upon you.
Prior to the third Beta Weekend Event, the profession I had spent the most time with was theNecromancer. To be more specific, a very aggressive, “in-your-face” style of Necro which was extremely resilient but could also easily dish out punishment to my opponents, be they other players or PvE critters.
Although the guardian profession was not very high on my personal list of characters to pursue, I have been following the articles written by Centurion on the profession here at GWI, as I consider them both entertaining and informative.
Then Centurion contacted me and explained that each of the regular writers of the profession articles were taking on a different profession during BWE3, and would be writing a “new eyes” article on them, to hopefully bring some fresh perspective to each profession prior to the launch. However, they were shy of the eight needed to cover each profession, and would “I” be willing to attempt such an article for the guardian profession… Well, when someone you respect asks you for help, refusing them is simply not an option in my book. So, although I’m not sure I’m up to the task, I agreed to take on the role of a Guardian during BWE3 and to write about the experience to the best of my ability. (more…)
Tristan Pope (a.k.a TristanNYC), former Blizzard Entertainment cinematic-tist, has created one of the first Guild Wars 2 Machinima. The video, titled “I Surrender”, a tale of love and loss, has a rather interesting history:
I decided to re-create my FIRST EVER machinima video as well as first story-lined machinima video from World of Warcraft sooo many years back called “I Surrender”.
Back then I created that video in the last 3 hours of the final beta weekend. I figured, hey, why not kick off Guild Wars 2, the first MMO since my Ultima Online days to make me all fuzzy inside again with an homage.
For some more information about the project, head over to the behind the scenes info at AltTabMe.
