Not long ago, the Guild Wars 2 team detailed what they consider the four pillars of the game. In an update to that blog post, the official site now has four videos that delve a bit deeper into the pillars for those of us who are more visual learners.

Earlier in the development of Guild Wars 2 we released our MMO Manifesto video, a high-level look at the philosophy behind the design of the game. As we approach the launch date, now is the perfect time to talk about the outcome of that design philosophy with a look at the core ideas that the game is built on: personal story, dynamic events, combat, and PvP.

You can see them all on the Guild Wars 2 blog.

They are really going on a rampage with blogs lately, keep it comin' :)

I've seen some of the footage before but I still found it interesting. 

Really can't wait for launch now and looking forward to seeing how the game develops especially the PVP side of things, if there will be proper competitve tournaments like ETF2L for Team Fortress 2. From what I've read the Tournament system will definitely support this and a spectator mode is also being added. 

Perhaps I'm just being overly pessimistic, but I don't feel comfortable with ArenaNet going heavy on the blog posts while the developers need to take their time the polish, optimize and balance the game. : /

Originally posted by Alot

Perhaps I'm just being overly pessimistic, but I don't feel comfortable with ArenaNet going heavy on the blog posts while the developers need to take their time the polish, optimize and balance the game. : /

Really?

Originally posted by Alot

Perhaps I'm just being overly pessimistic, but I don't feel comfortable with ArenaNet going heavy on the blog posts while the developers need to take their time the polish, optimize and balance the game. : /

I disagree.   Communication is extremely important.  Nobody likes devs who are missing or aloof.  Putting out updates in the forms of videos or blog and forum posts take almost no time to do and go a very long ways with your customers, especially if they never feel like they are in the dark.   Agree or disagree with them, respect the communication.

They are going way overboard on Dynamic Events. Sure you can come back to an area and have a somewhat different experience but certainly not a completely different experience. If you stick around an area for any extended period of time you will see the same DE spawn. It is NO different from Rift. ANet makes it sound as if GW2 has a completely dynamic world. It is not and this may cause players angst when they find out it is not true.

[Yes I know the DE will chain - and I like that. But, GW2 is just like Rift. There are DE spawn points and DE keep spawning.]

I felt these videos where a bit hypish and cocky.

Originally posted by Paragus1

Originally posted by Alot

Perhaps I'm just being overly pessimistic, but I don't feel comfortable with ArenaNet going heavy on the blog posts while the developers need to take their time the polish, optimize and balance the game. : /

I disagree.   Communication is extremely important.  Nobody likes devs who are missing or aloof.  Putting out updates in the forms of videos or blog and forum posts take almost no time to do and go a very long ways with your customers, especially if they never feel like they are in the dark.   Agree or disagree with them, respect the communication.

I also concur exciting community and bringing in more fans is far more important than less than a months work of polish.  Anyone who actualy works in the tech world knows that you dont make major changes a month before a release and if you start working on them you dont expect them at release. 

If anything WoW has taught us that peoples love and devotion to a game is far more powerful in determining its success than how much its been polished.

Originally posted by tordurbar

They are going way overboard on Dynamic Events. Sure you can come back to an area and have a somewhat different experience but certainly not a completely different experience. If you stick around an area for any extended period of time you will see the same DE spawn. It is NO different from Rift. ANet makes it sound as if GW2 has a completely dynamic world. It is not and this may cause players angst when they find out it is not true.

[Yes I know the DE will chain - and I like that. But, GW2 is just like Rift. There are DE spawn points and DE keep spawning.]

 

Accept in rift all the DE's are really the same, and if you played through the first three betas and got up into higher levels you'ld have seen that the DE's dont chain every 5 minutes like they do in the starter zone.  I also believe they just did that for the Beta and early launch since too many players were there to not have DE's constantly running. 

I tried rift but really just couldnt get excited by closing rifts all day for my DE's the difference between killing 2 waves of plants vs 2 waves of water elements and a boss didnt really do it for me.

Yeah, I'm a little on the fence about these videos. Most of it just good info for the uninitiated, but two or three things (like Johanson's on replayability being just on another scale than any other game, or the "shooter+RTS+MMO" of combat) are a little over the top.

I understand they're building up the hype too, which isn't bad. But I don't feel the need to be so hyperbolic about the features in the game. Just explaining is good enough: they are awesome that way. It wasn't too bad, but Anet, please, keep your feet well on the ground. We should be the ones praising you, not yourself.

Originally posted by dlld

I felt these videos where a bit hypish and cocky.

/agree  (Those I bought the game and look forward to it eagerly.)

ANET revealed the 4th sPvP map mechanic: fighting on a pirate ship and commandering the cannons on the ship!

Originally posted by Alot

Perhaps I'm just being overly pessimistic, but I don't feel comfortable with ArenaNet going heavy on the blog posts while the developers need to take their time the polish, optimize and balance the game. : /

That's done by moslty coding team. Designers probably got most of their work done or only minor touches left. Bug fixing and polishing passes are done by completley different people usually. 

Not every developer is a code-monkey. Just like in graphical design alone you have creative director, lead designer, 3d modellers, animation specialists, artists responsible for concept art, etc. It's not done by one person.