Guild Wars 2 Message Board older than one year ago

#guildwars Whenever anyone says "man, I hate how all MMOs are the same", someone else invariably says "well, wait for Guild Wars 2, then!". More »

It's no secret that we've been impressed by what we've seen of Guild Wars 2 so far. The upcoming NC Soft MMO looks great, and has had IGN Editors ready to spend countless hours at their desks, mouse in hand...

As the internet (and our comments) stirs with news about the upcoming Guild Wars 2 press beta weekend, rest assured that Kotaku will be there, doing Guild Wars-y things. You'll read all about it Monday, February 20. More »

Good news, we just received an invite to play in an upcoming round of beta testing in ArenaNet's highly anticipated Guild Wars 2. Unfortunately we can't share, but you can expect plenty of coverage to hit on Monday, February 20 at 6 AM Pacific...

#guildwars We may be four weeks into 2012, but it's the first day of the Year of the Dragon, which sounds like a perfect day to get a better idea of when we'll get a chance to play the most anticipated, dragon-bothered massively multiplayer online game of the year, Guild Wars 2. More »

As every complete tool in the world has already tediously blared several dozen times, 2012 is the year we’re all going to die. I think John Cusack’s going to strangle us all or something? Hopefully we’ll get a chance to finally play the 88 billion years in the making Guild Wars 2 before then, though. NCSoft have just revealed that it’s definitely down for a 2012 release, and that there’ll be an open beta in March or April. ‘Select press’ will be allowed in at some point in February, so expect previews to land around about then. Can I be a select press, please? Also it’s my birthday in February. Also the Mayans famously prophesised that I would be allowed onto the beta of a highly-anticipated MMO sequel, and I’m almost certain they weren’t talking about Asheron’s Call III.

Mike O'Brien, President and Founder of developer ArenaNet, posted on the ArenaNet blog today announcing several important steps in the finale of Guild Wars 2's development. According to O'Brien, the Guild Wars 2 beta will open to select press in February. In March and April, ArenaNet will "aggressively ramp up the size of [the] beta test events" to include gamers outside the press...

We've said it many, many times; Guild Wars 2 is the MMO to watch. With no subscription cost, a brilliant event system to replace standard quests, full-fledged (and branching) storylines and a tankless and healerless class system, Guild Wars 2 endeavors to keep what we love about MMOs and change what we don't. One of the less talked-about aspects of Guild Wars 2 is the Combo system...

Neither are we, DAMMIT. But news of Guild Wars stealthily entering closed beta for a lucky, handpicked few is news because this game has hiding over the edge of the horizon for so long by this point. A move towards any kind of beta, then, suggests it’s finally preparing to show itself off to the world in the not-too-distant.

Devs Arenanet whispered on their forums that closed beta begins today, but you won’t know you’re until until you know you’re on it. Like the Dark Brotherhood, they will approach you in secrecy and invite you to join their ranks unbeknownst to the friends and family in your everyday life. For that life will become but a sham, a mere charade to mask your true purpose on this Earth: to help identity bugs and stresstest severs in a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game. Details, such as they are here, but the long and short of it: if you find a website offering access, it’s a scam. We’ll let you know as soon as that changes, of course. OR WILL WE?

ArenaNet system designer, Jon Peters, has revealed on Reddit that Guild Wars 2 will enter closed beta testing tomorrow, December 16. Unfortunately, the closed beta will not be open to the public and there's no way to apply for beta access as candidates are being hand-selected...

What that headline means, of course, is that the anticipated Mesmer is the latest (and I believe final) class reveal for Guild Wars 2. The character’s skills focus on the making and breaking of illusions, making them a tricksy and cerebral class with some of the more esoteric magical effects at their disposal. ArenaNet have released five (count ‘em!) videos of the Mesmer in action, and you can watch them all below. Try watching all give simultaneously and see if your brain is different afterwards. (And gosh, isn’t GW2 just the prettiest thing?!)(more…)

The final profession for ArenaNet's upcoming (and more and more awesome looking) MMO, Guild Wars 2, was leaked today. Confirmed via the Guild Wars 2 twitter, the Mesmer, returning from the original Guild Wars, will be making a triumphant return in the sequel. How triumphant? Check out the leaked video below to see it in action...

#guildwars Mesmers are not controlled; a Mesmer does the controlling, which is probably why this video for the final Guild Wars 2 class slipped out a few days earlier than planned. Mind control! More »

#fineart OK, so I've got a bit of a thing for Guild Wars 2 art. It's a gorgeous game, shoot me. But before you do, you should check out both this concept art and, in a neat twist, some trailers made out of concept art. More »

Via Eurogamer, ArenaNet is still on track to open Guild Wars 2 up to some small segment of the public this year. Lead Designer Colin Johanson confirmed the subscription-free MMO was still sailing smoothly towards closed beta at this year's Eurogamer Expo. "We're in closed alpha right now," Johan...

Guild Wars 2 lies in a strange place between being something of a man of mystery and having been on show for so long that our eyes have crawled across most every element of it. A lot of the promises being made are conceptual or may rely on idealised circumstances, but nonethless people are being won after dramatically: most recently, it won game of the show at the Eurogamer Expo. So when do we all get to try it? Well, a closed beta has been promised before the end of the year, with an open beta to follow and then a release date dependent on the success of that.

For now, perhaps the best you’re going to get is TotalBiscuit’s substantial videoing (a good 40 minutes, all told) of his high-level play sessions at the Expo – it shows off some the more ambitious mechanics as well as plenty of day-to-day beast-slaying. He seems very impressed indeed, for the most part.(more…)

They may be small in stature, but the Asura in ArenaNet's upcoming Guild Wars 2 are anything but helpless. These short, grayish, bipedal alien-looking creatures are one of the five playable races in Guild Wars 2. They were first introduced into the Guild Wars universe in the Eye of the North expansion, after their underground expansion had uncovered and awoken a particularly nasty dragon called the Great Destroyer...

New video footage and photographs from the Guild Wars 2 tourist board have arrived. This time it’s details on the creepy Asura race. I don’t trust those little goblin things. You could say I’m an… Asuracist! Gosh, I’m funny. Take a look at the new footage, and some new screenshots, below.

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#guildwars This Charr plushie just went on sale over on the Penny Arcade Store for $35. More »

Here’s an interesting little bit of GW2 info over on MMORPG.com, who have been talking to ArenaNet at PAX: “Not only will ArenaNet be making up their own servers for the quick and dirty PVP matches, much like the shooter genre’s setup, but Eric and Colin said they plan for players to be able to create and host their own servers or games with specific rule-sets as well.” I’ll be fascinated to see how that actually works. I have to admit that despite the original game’s heavy PvP focus, I’d barely paid any attention to how PvP will work in the new game. (I just want to wander around those environments.)

Anyone here a GW PvP with great expectations for the sequel?

Of the many -- so, so many -- MMOs represented on the PAX Prime 2011 show floor, ArenaNet's long-in-development Guild Wars 2 easily presents the most outside-the-box thinking. Where other entries in the genre tend to look at their contemporaries and attempt to iteratively repair their rough edges, Guild Wars 2 throws out baby, bathwater and tub, starting with a base that's altogether unprecedented.

Take, for instance, this core conceit: Why do other MMOs require you to stand still to use most of your character's abilities? Why not allow them to fire off powers while ducking and dodging through salvos of enemy attacks? Why not let heroes use their powers, regardless of whether or not they're targeting an enemy? Why not put some action in your MMO, or vice versa? ArenaNet seems to have noticed most developers' proclivity for sacrificing streamlined gameplay for staple MMO characteristics, and repeatedly asked that very question: Why?

#fineart We've featured the concept art of Guild Wars 2 here twice before, showcasing the talents of concept artists Levi Hopkins and Kekai Kotaki. Today, then, let's do it a third and final time. More »

#guildwars We published some footage of Guild Wars 2 gameplay shot off several screens earlier this week. Wartower.de does one better, capturing a direct feed straight off a rig. More »

#watchthis You've seen the trailer, now take a look at eight minutes or so of Guild Wars 2 gameplay shot from the Gamescom show floor. More »

They’re just showing off! Stop showing off, Arenanet. No one likes a show off, ESPECIALLY when they’re pretty. As if the PvE action stuff wasn’t showy enough, the flyovers of intricately produced cities and other superlative-stretching environmental features are just too much. And then that dude totally decks a centaur… and what is that robot thing?!

Really, everyone’s impressed, you can go be humble in the corner now. Christ.(more…)

There's a lot to like about Guild Wars 2. It's a fast-paced MMO that offers a great amount of freedom, not only in how you develop your character class and swap skills during battle, but also in how you quest. Tasks aren't designed to be of the worn-out fetch and kill variety; instead, quests pop up...

The Sylvari in Guild Wars 2 are a fascinating race that seem to draw upon several traditional fantasy races -- elves, nymphs, dryads -- but the Sylvari's design and situation are unique. Originally planned to be humanoids adorned with leaves and branches, now they're actually made of plant materials...

Plant people! It’s an abomination, I say. If plants were meant to be people then God would have given them the vital organs to be human, like eyes and shoes. ArenaNet, however, see nothing wrong with creating a leafy mockery of the human form with their “Sylvari”. They’ve gone as far as to blog about it in detail here, and also to detail their visual appearance here. Not an Ent in sight, though, so that’s some small reason to be thankful, I suppose.

Anyway, it’s appalling. They’re almost as heinous as those monstrous anthropomorphous plants in Popcap’s ridiculous Plants Vs Zombies. As if pot plants could ever defeat the undead. You’d need trees and stinging nettles at the bare minimum.

#guildwars ArenaNet character designer Kristen Perry was presented was presented with a thorny task when asked to cultivate the plant-like sylvari race for Guild Wars 2: Finding the balance between green-skinned humans and tentacle monsters. More »