GW 2 Gold, GW 2 Items, Heroes and Evil Dragons – a Preview
Guild Wars 2 doesn’t plan on leaving out the “arms race” theme so typical of MMORPGs these days. The continuation of this theme includes GW 2 Gold, GW 2 Items – and even Power leveling of character levels (this time with a level cap of 80, regards from WoW!). Your lonesome hero joins the battle for the best resources with/against millions of other lonesome heroes who all want to become the (only?) savior of the new GW World: This time the enemies are evil dragons! A revolution of the online role-playing game industry isn’t exactly in the works here.
Yet still, NCSoft isn’t just planning to follow up on the success of the predecessor of Guild Wars. They want to create the best MMOG of all times and bring it out into the market! In this regard, the game is quite similar to its rival, World of Warcraft. Many completely new and promising ideas will make sure that GW 2 offers more than just a half-hearted to solid mix of Guild Wars and WoW, which should further advance the development of fantasy online role-playing games in general. The heart of every MMOG, the (often unimaginative) quest system, beats quicker and promises something new, and much more exciting!
The Story of Guild Wars 2
After the Great Destroyer was defeated, the five great races in Tyria had nothing better to do than slaughter each other for the next 250 years. This animated the dragons to end their aeon long slumber beneath the earth on the ocean floor in order to invade the weakened land of Tyria, therefore causing utter chaos. One of the dragons is especially good at destruction, Zaithan. The immortal dragon Zaithan lifted the once sunken Orr from the sea in order to terrorize the coast with floods, earthquakes, and hordes of undead. Now, thanks to the common enemy, the races are fighting side by side once more to put a stop to the tremendous threat.
GW 2 Races
One of the races that were there from the beginning of Guild Wars are the Humans. Due to the rise of the other races, humanity’s existence is threatened. The mighty walls of the city Divinity’ Reach and their unshakeable faith protect them from evil.
The Charr have always been the arch-enemies of humanity. They’ve also become a military and industry nation whose legions are feared across the whole world. The advanced firearms of this war-like nation are especially devastating. In Guild Wars 2, you can finally play the Charr as well.
The Norn living in the Shiverpeak Mountains are an independent and freedom-loving race with a lack of solid housing and/or social order. The mysterious warriors are known for their bravery and would give their life to gain immortality as a legend. The Norn are a race that can transform into different animal spirit forms.
The Asura are known for being highly advanced both technologically and culturally. Many call them arrogant, yet ever since the Fire Dragons forced the Asura to the Earth’s surface, they’ve also been fighting for survival. Their weapons are intellect and knowledge. They combine magic and technology to create mighty golems and giant metropolises.
The Sylvari are the youngest of all the races of Tyria. They’re a dryad race that was created recently with the magic tree, Ventaris. They are connected to each other through this tree, and also possess a spiritual collectiveness with all plants. The Sylvari are extraordinarily talented with magic and are completely one with nature.
GW 2 Classes
Not all the classes have been officially announced as of yet. It remains to be seen whether this new game with its race-class combos will be more fun than the fantastic 100 profession combos of its predecessor. Recently, the Guardian was added. The Mesmer will probably also make its appearance again.
The Elementalist represents the typical mage who is mainly an excellent damage dealer for ranged battle. With the help of glyphs, he improves his ability to form magic out of fire, water, earth, and air. Among others, he makes for an effective area of effect spell caster and depends on the might of Signets, which grant him permanent bonuses. Mighty summoning spells serve to create magic weapons for the Elementalist.
The Necromancer is a more robust version of the mage since he can gain life force from others to heal himself. Through his magical wells, he can set up area of effect spells that help his own group or damage his enemies. He can instill enemies with fear to cause them to run away. His specialty is the use of “Corpse Material” to form his undead minions.
The Warrior is a master of all weapon classes, from the solid axe to the elaborate firearms. His fighting style depends strongly upon his weapon of choice. Thanks to his heavy armor, he’s suitable as a tank, but he can also use his skills to perform deadly combos – especially in melee – to dish out murderous damage. He can also charge his skills to maximize damage as well as fill himself with adrenaline and strengthen his group with wild shouts and banners.
Rangers are very versatile chars. This can be seen when they use their pets, which can be trained and used in many different ways. However, animals are not the only ones that accompany the Ranger, spirits also aid them. They either give them some advantage over their enemies or help them by dealing damage directly. In addition, the Ranger is a most excellent archer and trapper. Traps weaken enemy attacks or cause damage and remain active as long as the Ranger in nearby.
Special Features Part 1: Personal Storyline for your Character
The personal story of your character is something never before seen in massively multiplayer online role-playing games! This story is created by your character answering questions over the course of the game. Some questions are asked during character creation and some questions are asked that influence your quests and missions, yet there are no “right” or “wrong” answers. The answers you give are simply how your character defines itself, and how your character influences the course of the story. A question asked during character creation, for example, is “Where you were raised?”. Were you born into nobility, raised as a commoner, or were you a street rat? As a street rat, noble neighborhoods are taboo for you, but you get great survival skills and many allies as a trade-off! The college Asuras went to play a historically decisive role in the game. Was it the college of Synergetics, Statics, or Dynamics?
The adventures you experience form your personal story. Make unique and irrevocable decisions during your quests: Will you use violence to get information out of someone, or will you remain polite? Depending on how you behave in this or similar situations, the course of the story can change, branching off in different directions. The makers of GW 2 have stressed the fact that this aspect of the game is merely for fun – the overall game or the power of your char will not be improved or diminished by your personal decisions.
Special Features Part 2: Worlds Instead of Servers
Contrary to Guild Wars, the second installment will include worlds that all gamers can take part in (open-ended, consistent worlds instead of instances). In this regard, GW2 will be approaching a more conventional MMORPG standard. Formation of parties and shared adventures will no longer be a problem. Instances will only be used for minor solo quests. In your hometown, you’ll have your very own private home district, a separate instance that looks different for every hero (depending on origin, for example!). There, gamers can find quests that are specific to their chars!
A remarkable little update on the side: Instead of a regular server system where the same world is mirrored many times, GW 2 offers many completely different worlds. All characters will be globally managed in a central database. Thanks to this aspect, you can transfer your character from world to world free of charge without taking up a lot of time. In this manner, you’ll never be separated from your friends.
Special Features Part 3: Dynamic Events Instead of only Quests and Instances
The long, boring quest descriptions that everyone is all too familiar with from WoW will be left out in Guild Wars 2 for the most part. Instead, gamers will experience dynamic and partially interconnected events. The entire gaming world can be strongly or weakly influenced by the outcome of these events!
1st Example: Defending a Farm
A farm is to be protected from marauding bandits. If the gamers stand by and watch, the city can no longer receive goods from this farm; there will be supply shortages and higher prices as a result. To prevent this, gamers need to kill the bandits, feed the farmers’ animals and put out the fires that happen to be burning down any fields.
2nd Example: Dragon Attacks Bridge
A bridge which also happens to be the main entrance into a city is being attacked by a dragon. All gamers in the vicinity have the opportunity to attack the dragon. If they fail to defeat the dragon, an NPC from the city will come out to repair the bridge. During repairs, the NPC and the bridge need to be protected from robbers.
Dynamic events aren’t punctual events. They’re spread out over the entire gaming world, so they can also happen simultaneously and overlap each other (and you can’t be at each and every one). A gamer can meet these events randomly or hunt for them systematically. Should he choose the latter, he can make use of an aesthetically pleasing overview map. In any case, this feature promises to make for a more lively and realistic game experience when compared to conventional MMORPGs.
Other Differences Between Guild Wars and GW 2
Contrary to its predecessor, gamers will be able to jump, swim, and even climb. The battle system is supposed to be faster and more agile. The amount of skills will be reduced without giving up the tactical aspects of its predecessor. The environment will play a greater role in battle (employment of siege weapons, rocks, etc). The crafting system will be expanded and trading will be simplified. The level cap will be increased from 20 to 80. NPC party members will no longer be available unfortunately.
Guild Wars fans are especially interested in how the PvP system will be developed. It’s suspected that GW 2 will be substantially more PvE oriented than its predecessor. The special PvP chars will be removed, and you can only enter into player vs player battles with your PvE role-playing char. The transition into said battles will supposedly be made easier via the “Sidekick System”, with which the strength of the char in PvP automatically gets adjusted. This system also applies to Guild Battles. The new special PvP gaming area also seems to be promising, since battles can be fought between different (servers) worlds!
NCsoft knows what it means to lose the title “King of all MMOGs”. NCsoft claimed this title for itself for a long time with “Lineage” and “Lineage II”, until it was dethroned by Blizzard’s World of Warcraft. Above all, the previous Guild Wars and also “Aion” were separate serious attempts to regain NCsoft’s lost throne. If GW 2 succeeds in attracting the fans from its predecessors as well win a few WoW fans, and win new completely new fans thanks to new gaming features, then anything is possible! That’s because it possesses a hefty trump card: Guild Wars 2 will be free of monthly charges!
