This improved tool belt system meant that we had to design twenty-three new skills.
Interesting. This means there are currently 23 utility/healing skills for Engineer. Wonder how that compares to other professions.
The Ranger pet stuff sounds good. Certainly the minimum I would expect from pet interaction. Pet-swapping could have some nice strategy implications.
When two players create a combo, we create a floating notification for each player that shows that they did a combo and which skills were involved. Skills also display their field type or finisher type in their description, to help players experiment.
This improved tool belt system meant that we had to design twenty-three new skills.
Interesting. This means there are currently 23 utility/healing skills for Engineer. Wonder how that compares to other professions.
They might have had a few already designed and when they decided to do this they had to design ones for the skills that didn't have counterparts yet. That's what I took away from it anyway, so I don't think it gives us a hard number of skills.
Mostly just huntin' monsters.
XBL:Phenyhelm - 3DS:Phenyhelm
This improved tool belt system meant that we had to design twenty-three new skills.
Interesting. This means there are currently 23 utility/healing skills for Engineer. Wonder how that compares to other professions.
They might have had a few already designed and when they decided to do this they had to design ones for the skills that didn't have counterparts yet. That's what I took away from it anyway, so I don't think it gives us a hard number of skills.
That is actually what I took away from it as well.
I love the examples they gave for the combos... it's nice to see that we aren't just getting 'Shoot X thru Y for Z extra damage.'.
Seeing that we can also buff teammates with them opens up a ton of possibilities.
I'm on the phone currently so I can't paste it in here, but a local radio show did an interview and tour at the ANet studios with Colin Johannsen.
Now the show in question I am not a huge fan of because of the host (BJ Shea) but the guy who did the interview (The Reverend Infuego) is a true gamer. I liked the tone of his questions and I felt like it was more one of us talking to him than some professional journalist.
They claim there is a video on their Facebook/Twitter which I will need to find, especially since they did this on Halloween so we might see some of those costumes in action.
This is one of GW2's biggest draws for me. I had played the original GW when it was first released, but didn't think it was anything tooooo special (aside from being one of the first AAA MMOs without a subscription). So, when my friend first mentioned that they were making a sequel, I didn't pay much mind.
The reason being was that I hated how 'stop-and-go' the combat felt in the original title. Every time you swing, cast a spell, etc, your character is frozen in place for the duration of the action's animation. It's something I hate even as I am currently playing GW to get my 30/50 in HoM.
Games like WoW have spoiled me with how smooth everything flows. The UI is super quick to respond, you have a complete freedom of movement on all attacks and instant spells... you can even move at a split second's notice if needed during a cast or animation.
Fast-forward about 2 years and I randomly catch the 'Manifesto' trailer for GW2.
Needless to say, I was completely blown away. The games combat and animation was a total 180 from what I had expected. Everything is smooth as silk. Even to this day, after watching probably hundreds of gameplay videos, I'm still amazed by it.
Sure, not all the animations are perfect... but we're still in 'alpha' technically, and most of the poor animations have been confirmed as placeholders or as still in development.
Looking at everything from the art direction, to the animations, to the sense of scale in the world... this game just seems to be getting an amazing level of polish that has been missing from the genre for too long.
Glad they are at least considering adding a "combo tracker". That was something I wondered about when they talked about it in the blog post.
Hang in there— as excited as you guys might be we are just as excited to share the game. I was up at 5:30 AM checking my email this morning waiting for the blog to go out so I could read people’s responses. We want to share Guild Wars 2 with people, but it has to be polished and worthy of your deservedly high expectations, so just give us the time we need to get there.
For some reason I like the idea that ANet are sitting there, excited to see how we react.
For some reason I like the idea that ANet are sitting there, excited to see how we react.
It's always nice to see there are still big developers out there that truly care about their community.
Then again it could always just be lil PR pump... but I'd like to believe the former.
For some reason I like the idea that ANet are sitting there, excited to see how we react.
It's always nice to see there are still big developers out there that truly care about their community.
Then again it could always just be lil PR pump... but I'd like to believe the former.
Well, it's the actual developers saying all this stuff, not the PR and community people. And given that these same developers will gleefully write a detailed blog post about the clothing dying system... and it actually had me reading with interest the whole way through, I'm inclined to believe them.
Want to find me on a gaming service? I'm SwashbucklerXX everywhere.
Just listed to one talk from them in any kind of interview and you have to know there is something there.
Now, I do love Colin and all he is doing, but he's given that same kind of talk several times. Here's the one thing I like about it: It is consistent. He is saying the same things, but there is not a lot of major change, and he sounds genuinely excited about it. Probably the most in that interview. Most of the other times it's like there is a room full of people or a blogger who is just like "So yeah, Guild Wars 2 huh...GO!" and off he starts. But with the conversational interaction, I felt like there was feeling behind it.
Game developers who care about the quality of their product make good games.
See Blizzard with Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3. I like this studio ANet has and their lead developers/designers are personable people.
They are just not superhuman and cannot give it too us any sooner.
Well isn't it interesting then that most of the original team came from Blizzard, guess we know where all the talent went.
Two of the three company founders worked at Blizzard pre-WoW and left to start their own company like so many other Blizzard ex-employees. Blizzard has a habit of creating good developers as much as good games, and hence now, good competition.
I don't think GW2 becomes a competitor for WoW as they are too different.
But you are correct, Blizzard is like the minor leagues for good game developers. I say minor league because they can't really be free to come into their own until they get the monolithic weight of the parent companies off their backs.
I do however have faith that Blizzard negotiated these buys with a "DONT FUCK WITH DIABLO" clause preventing Activision from doing anything to that studio. They have their own dark work pits the game will never escape from, and eventually it will just be good.
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CorehealerThe ApothecaryThe softer edge of the universe.Registered Userregular
I don't think GW2 becomes a competitor for WoW as they are too different.
But you are correct, Blizzard is like the minor leagues for good game developers. I say minor league because they can't really be free to come into their own until they get the monolithic weight of the parent companies off their backs.
I do however have faith that Blizzard negotiated these buys with a "DONT FUCK WITH DIABLO" clause preventing Activision from doing anything to that studio. They have their own dark work pits the game will never escape from, and eventually it will just be good.
Through the black magic of the Void, may it be so.
So, new footage out of Korea's G*star con shows more diverse character customization options, outfits, and improved cinematics animations (part 1 of 3 of the demo presentation shown below):
Check out the video below for a closer look at the customization options that will be available in Guild Wars 2. This video just scratches the surface of the range of character customization in the game.
Looks like they've shifted the old trait-acquisition system to now be the method for acquiring healing/utility/elite skills (skill points for those skills, to be precise). The new trait system will be revealed in an upcoming blog post.
Skill points can be acquired by undertaking what we call a skill challenge. There are 200 skill challenges in the game, and they range from defeating tough opponents, to answering riddles, to drinking a particularly potent drink.
Stay tuned, because tomorrow cinematics artist Chuck Jackman is going to show off the improved cinematic conversation cut scenes that we’ve included in the G-Star demo. We’ll see you then!
The problem usually with character creators, no matter how good, is I spend half an hour tweaking my character. And then the game starts and I never really see my character again, and all that time and effort the devs went into letting you customize your character were pretty much a waste. Even in multiplayer games you never look at other people's characters. I just see "dwarf", "elf", etc. I know in WoW I went several months before I realized that my priest had a nose ring.
GW2 might be different though, since you actually see your character's face close up during conversations. That's a nice way to get more a lot more out of the wide array of options.
Check out the video below for a closer look at the customization options that will be available in Guild Wars 2. This video just scratches the surface of the range of character customization in the game.
Is it just me, or did he spend 75% of that video trying to prove that, even tho you've chosen to me Male, you can make your character look like a girl?
If that is what I really saw, I think I might be in love all over again.
“Until now, you have only seen our placeholder versions of the conversations.…”
Once this plan was mapped out, we then blotted out the sun and the stars, summoned forth fog, thunder, and lightning, lit ritualistic candles, and handed our final request off to the tools programming team. They, in turn, invoked their most sinister black magic and tore the needed code straight from the minds of the ancient gods, trapping it in an awesome tool set, allowing us to accomplish all our wicked—er, cinematic conversation needs.
We put our chosen victim into our motion capture gear and have them bend and contort to our whims and wishes until they either give us the performance we want or break down into a sobbing mass of despair.
They uh.. they really go all out. But it does get results:
Centaur is actually a code word for pirates/ninjas/zombies/werewolves/cowboys/robots/some twisted hybrid
So just picture them saying "Sergeant! There are more cowboys on the other side of town. Captain Bolt Vanderhuge is calling for reinforcements at the garrison!"
Posts
Scoobs is gonna fuck that bear up.
*muffled coming from inside the bear* I'm in here!
XBL:Phenyhelm - 3DS:Phenyhelm
Interesting. This means there are currently 23 utility/healing skills for Engineer. Wonder how that compares to other professions.
The Ranger pet stuff sounds good. Certainly the minimum I would expect from pet interaction. Pet-swapping could have some nice strategy implications.
Oh my...
Steam (Ansatz) || GW2 officer (Ansatz.6498)
They might have had a few already designed and when they decided to do this they had to design ones for the skills that didn't have counterparts yet. That's what I took away from it anyway, so I don't think it gives us a hard number of skills.
XBL:Phenyhelm - 3DS:Phenyhelm
That is actually what I took away from it as well.
I love the examples they gave for the combos... it's nice to see that we aren't just getting 'Shoot X thru Y for Z extra damage.'.
Seeing that we can also buff teammates with them opens up a ton of possibilities.
Now the show in question I am not a huge fan of because of the host (BJ Shea) but the guy who did the interview (The Reverend Infuego) is a true gamer. I liked the tone of his questions and I felt like it was more one of us talking to him than some professional journalist.
They claim there is a video on their Facebook/Twitter which I will need to find, especially since they did this on Halloween so we might see some of those costumes in action.
http://www2.kisw.com/sites/default/files/audio/bjgeeknation11-11GW2.mp3
Steam (Ansatz) || GW2 officer (Ansatz.6498)
It's possible it just didn't get uploaded.
This is one of GW2's biggest draws for me. I had played the original GW when it was first released, but didn't think it was anything tooooo special (aside from being one of the first AAA MMOs without a subscription). So, when my friend first mentioned that they were making a sequel, I didn't pay much mind.
The reason being was that I hated how 'stop-and-go' the combat felt in the original title. Every time you swing, cast a spell, etc, your character is frozen in place for the duration of the action's animation. It's something I hate even as I am currently playing GW to get my 30/50 in HoM.
Games like WoW have spoiled me with how smooth everything flows. The UI is super quick to respond, you have a complete freedom of movement on all attacks and instant spells... you can even move at a split second's notice if needed during a cast or animation.
Fast-forward about 2 years and I randomly catch the 'Manifesto' trailer for GW2.
Needless to say, I was completely blown away. The games combat and animation was a total 180 from what I had expected. Everything is smooth as silk. Even to this day, after watching probably hundreds of gameplay videos, I'm still amazed by it.
Sure, not all the animations are perfect... but we're still in 'alpha' technically, and most of the poor animations have been confirmed as placeholders or as still in development.
Looking at everything from the art direction, to the animations, to the sense of scale in the world... this game just seems to be getting an amazing level of polish that has been missing from the genre for too long.
Glad they are at least considering adding a "combo tracker". That was something I wondered about when they talked about it in the blog post.
For some reason I like the idea that ANet are sitting there, excited to see how we react.
Steam (Ansatz) || GW2 officer (Ansatz.6498)
It's always nice to see there are still big developers out there that truly care about their community.
Then again it could always just be lil PR pump... but I'd like to believe the former.
Well, it's the actual developers saying all this stuff, not the PR and community people. And given that these same developers will gleefully write a detailed blog post about the clothing dying system... and it actually had me reading with interest the whole way through, I'm inclined to believe them.
Now, I do love Colin and all he is doing, but he's given that same kind of talk several times. Here's the one thing I like about it: It is consistent. He is saying the same things, but there is not a lot of major change, and he sounds genuinely excited about it. Probably the most in that interview. Most of the other times it's like there is a room full of people or a blogger who is just like "So yeah, Guild Wars 2 huh...GO!" and off he starts. But with the conversational interaction, I felt like there was feeling behind it.
Game developers who care about the quality of their product make good games.
See Blizzard with Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3. I like this studio ANet has and their lead developers/designers are personable people.
They are just not superhuman and cannot give it too us any sooner.
Two of the three company founders worked at Blizzard pre-WoW and left to start their own company like so many other Blizzard ex-employees. Blizzard has a habit of creating good developers as much as good games, and hence now, good competition.
They finally posted the video from ArenaNet HQ.
No new info on the game, but an interesting watch if you're bored. =]
But you are correct, Blizzard is like the minor leagues for good game developers. I say minor league because they can't really be free to come into their own until they get the monolithic weight of the parent companies off their backs.
I do however have faith that Blizzard negotiated these buys with a "DONT FUCK WITH DIABLO" clause preventing Activision from doing anything to that studio. They have their own dark work pits the game will never escape from, and eventually it will just be good.
Through the black magic of the Void, may it be so.
Steam (Ansatz) || GW2 officer (Ansatz.6498)
Looks like they've shifted the old trait-acquisition system to now be the method for acquiring healing/utility/elite skills (skill points for those skills, to be precise). The new trait system will be revealed in an upcoming blog post.
Steam (Ansatz) || GW2 officer (Ansatz.6498)
GW2 might be different though, since you actually see your character's face close up during conversations. That's a nice way to get more a lot more out of the wide array of options.
Is it just me, or did he spend 75% of that video trying to prove that, even tho you've chosen to me Male, you can make your character look like a girl?
If that is what I really saw, I think I might be in love all over again.
They uh.. they really go all out. But it does get results:
Steam (Ansatz) || GW2 officer (Ansatz.6498)
Oh my god there are centaurs in this game?!
Centaur is actually a code word for pirates/ninjas/zombies/werewolves/cowboys/robots/some twisted hybrid
So just picture them saying "Sergeant! There are more cowboys on the other side of town. Captain Bolt Vanderhuge is calling for reinforcements at the garrison!"
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