Monday, July 30, 2012

Online Game Review: Guild Wars 2


Title: Guild Wars 2
Genre: MMORPG/Role-Playing Game
Publisher: NC Soft
Developer: ArenaNet


Guild Wars 2 is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game in development by ArenaNet. Set in the fantasy world of Tyria, the game follows the re-emergence of Destiny's Edge, a disbanded guild dedicated to fighting the Elder Dragons, a Lovecraftian species that has seized control of Tyria in the time since the original Guild Wars. The game takes place in a persistent world with a story that progresses in instanced environments.

Guild Wars 2 claims to be unique in the genre by featuring a storyline that is responsive to player actions, something which is common in single player role-playing games but rarely seen in multiplayer ones. A dynamic event system replaces traditional questing, utilising the ripple effect to allow players to approach quests in different ways as part of a persistent world. Also of note is the combat system, which aims to be more dynamic than its predecessor by promoting synergy between professions and using the environment as a weapon, as well as reducing the complexity of the Magic-style skill system of the original game. As a sequel to Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2 will feature the same lack of subscription fees that distinguished its predecessor from other commercially developed online games of the time, though a purchase is still required to install the game.


Guild Wars 2 uses a heavily modified version of the proprietary game engine developed for Guild Wars by ArenaNet. The modifications to the engine include real-time 3D environments, enhanced graphics and animations and the use of the Havok physics system. The developers say the engine now does justice to the game's critically acclaimed concept art, and that concept art will be integrated into the way the story is told to the player.


Guild Wars 2 will allow a player to create a character from a combination of five races and eight professions, the five races being the humans and charr, introduced in Prophecies, the asura and norn, introduced in Eye of the North, and the sylvari, a race exclusive to Guild Wars 2. The professions, three of which do not appear in Guild Wars, are divided into armor classes: "scholars" with light armor, "adventurers" with medium armor, and "soldiers" with heavy armor. There is no dedicated healing class because the developers felt that making it necessary for every party to have a healing character was restrictive.

The race and profession of the player will determine the skills that he or she has access to. Guild Wars 2, like Guild Wars, uses a skill-based combat system, whereby players must select only 10 skills from a much larger pool, introducing an element of strategy. However, unlike Guild Wars, skill slots have predefined roles, so the first five will be determined by a combination of the player's weapon and profession, the sixth can only be one of a number of healing skills, the seventh through ninth will be skills with no defined roles, and unlocked as the game progresses, and the tenth slot will be for an "elite" skill, which is also initially locked. In a departure from the high number of skills present in Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2 will focus on quality of skills over quantity and will also reduce the overall number of game modes to reduce balancing complexity — one of the most common issues present in MMORPG's.

The uniquely low level cap of Guild Wars has been replaced with one capping out at 80, which the developers state strikes the correct balance between allowing for character development and avoiding forcing players into the grind-based gameplay that too often accompanies a high level cap, the elimination of which was a core design principle of the original Guild Wars. In PvE, grind is combated with a sidekick system, similar to that used in City of Heroes, allowing two players with a large level disparity to normalize their levels and enjoy content as though they were the same level. In PvP, entry to e-sport will grant access to all skills, items and provide a fixed level, so that all players will be on a level playing field.

In addition to the small-scale, tactical combat described above, Guild Wars 2 will feature "World PvP", large scale combat taking place in a persistent world, with players able to drop in and out "on the fly". Players will be able to join this worldwide PvP battle in a variety of roles, with rewards commensurate with their success. A more elaborate crafting system and other non-combat interactions are also being added to the game.

► System Requirements
Windows XP Service Pack 2 or better
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz, Core i3, AMD Athlon 64 X2 or better
NVIDIA GeForce 7800, ATI Radeon X1800, Intel HD 3000 or better (256MB of video RAM and shader model 3.0 or better)
25 GB available HDD space
Broadband Internet connection
Keyboard and mouse

Want to have a Copy of this Game?

Grab Guild Wars 2 Today!!



0 comments:

Post a Comment

ShareThis