Guild Wars 2: The Old Republic
Okay, people, see here — I need to work. I have a lot to do today, with the added challenge of two tykes under my care as my wife flees for her sanity. What I simply do NOT need to wake up to is a crapload of new and irresistable MMO news that demands my attention. So I’m in talks with several supervillains to have them insta-freeze the entire world until I’m ready to deal with stuff.
At least, until after I have my coffee.
/sips
Ahhh.
Okay, we’ll do this. Strap in, it’s gonna be bumpy until the caffeine kicks in.
First up is a new Guild Wars 2 blog post about their “dynamic events system”, which is probably the core jewel of this new title. It’s one of those things that if they don’t pull it off right, people will like it anyway but it’ll be a nothing issue — but if they can, it may likely kick the traditional quest model in the nards and possibly change how future titles are made. Essentially, it’s the next evolution of the Public Quest system — a little less regimented, a little more intuitive and fluid. I really liked this quote:
There is a second fundamental flaw to traditional quest systems: what the quest text tells you is happening in a quest is not actually what is happening in the world.
This is really true, and something I’ve noticed more and more through the years. Despite what the quest text says, you really don’t see evidence for it in the world — just randomly milling mobs, leftover items to click on, etc. They’ve basically asked you to take a leap of faith with storytelling to assume more is happening in the background than actually is, which is where a lot of boredom and the “been there, done that” feeling of quests come in. I want quests that matter, not just busy work.
Another quote that grabbed me:
As an added bonus, we’ve also hidden hundreds of events all over the world that require interaction with the game world. This helps give an extra sense of reward and discovery for those who seek to explore the entire world.
Promoting exploration? Encouraging it? Rewarding it? YES PLEASE.
Moving on, The Old Republic took a couple fledgling steps out from their now-typical announcements (new planet, new creatures, new comic, new timeline) to give us a few really juicy bits this week. We now finally have confirmation of the first non-human playable race, the Ratataki, which should thrill some but makes me simply go, “Okay.” I mean, we knew there would be other non-human playable races, so it’s not like this is stunning, but it’s good that they’re finally starting to announce them. What we’re all waiting for, I’m sure, are playable Jawa.
Of more personal interest is the revelation of advanced classes (i.e. class specialties), using two variants on the Sith Warrior as an example (Marauder and Juggernaut). Again, we knew this was coming, because a couple months back they were talking about the two advanced versions of the Smuggler class — the Gunslinger and the Scoundrel.
In any case, very cool, and that does help widen the game from 8 classes to 16. I always liked WoW’s talent trees and the various ways you could take a character, so this will challenge players to think hard about what they want their character to end up like. It is neat that there will be two talent trees unique to each specialization, and one shared one as well.
- Posted in: Guild Wars ♦ Star Wars: The Old Republic
The Guild Wars 2 document reads almost exactly like the reveals from Trion about two weeks ago regarding their game Rift: Planes of Telara. Who is “stealing” from whom? Honestly the choice for me may come down to art style, and I have a seething hatred for anime, so GW2 loses in my book.
Also, not to sound like a cynic here, but the advanced classes system in TOR is probably something every seasoned MMO gamer was expecting. Not that that’s bad, mind you! I definitely think it is a step in the right direction.
I don’t know Cedia; I didn’t see any similarities in the two press-releases, and the two games’ features seem too different to be accusing one or the other of stealing. Trion is getting sued by Palladium Books for name stealing, so if I were to choose a party to side with in such a situation it wouldn’t be them :p. Not really sure what a seething hatred of anime has to do with Guild Wars’ art style considering its a western high-fantasy mmo being developed by a North American studio.
Both games are turning out to look great in my opinion; looks like I wont have any free time in 2012 :p.
Really like the split with the class specialties that SW:TOR has announced, especially as you chose from two sub-categories within each. Gonna make things a lot of fun
I wonder if you’ll be able to respec between any of the trees and thus change your advanced class?
Not really sure it widens it. I’m not a fan of having to specialize because it’s very hard to make both of the paths equally viable. I had this with my EQOA cleric: exorcist was worthless as were half of the specialization abilities that catered to it.
I’d rather just straight classes, or barring that “jobs” like in FFXI where you can switch paths as needed.
As an added bonus, we’ve also hidden hundreds of events all over the world that require looking on the equivalent of thottbot or wowhead to find them. This helps give an extra sense of completionism for those who seek to explore the database sites.
fixed that quote for ya.