Last week ArenaNet gave an announcement about how Guild Wars 2 would continue to undergo development. That’s right; this large game is going to get even larger! But didn’t we expect that? How is it going to happen? ArenaNet is taking a unique approach to live development. Let’s take a look at how their tactics will benefit players.
The announcement on live development last week is actually a pretty simple one. First off, what does it really mean? Well, it means that they are actively working on the game as we the players go on our adventures. Every MMO has a live development team. They watch out for any issues that come up from players and reports so they know what to work on for bug fixes and balance issues.
But how is ArenaNet’s approach unique? A team that works on the game is still just a team, right? ArenaNet is actually going to use ten different development teams. Each one will take on a very specific part of the game. For example, the live security team will focus on issues with account theft and bots, while the living world team will make new content. This will allow each team to tackle a smaller group of issues rather than be bombarded with every type of issue imaginable all at once.
It makes sense to split everything up into different teams, but why do they need 10? MMO games are huge, and the larger the game, the more room there is for errors and things to happen. Having 10 teams keeps the types of issues each team deals with limited, allowing them to get through their work-load faster, and that means things get fixed more often. Fixed bugs and trouble tickets mean a more fluid gameplay experience. Doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me!
)
This is one of my favorite dragon concepts from the game. I would love to fight a swarm of these!
Now these live teams aren’t just working on bugs and glitches. Earlier I stated that one team will be working on brining new content to the game. To have a whole team dedicated to brining us new adventures is a huge bonus. I hope some of this new content will be new zones for us to explore, and maybe an extra dungeon here or there. I’m getting pumped just thinking about the possibilities, but until I see what actually comes from it, I won’t get too excited.
The holiday and events team is going to be working on, well… holidays and events! We’ll soon see the first holiday here in a few weeks, so their time to shine is approaching. Some of the events will also change the world as a whole, so new content will also come from this team. Maybe those events we saw during the Beta Event Weekends were just a small taste of what this team will bring to the table.
Mac users have just started to join the fun, and it’s a really welcomed group of players. Since they are using a different OS, a new set of issues can come up for them. To keep the teams from being buried by another set of issues to work on, a separate Mac team has been put in place so that issues are handled faster.
Let’s not forget about sPvP. A team has been dedicated to helping expand the experience for us players. What type of features they will be adding? I’m not real sure. It could be new maps, or maybe new armor and weapon skins that are only found in sPvP. There are a lot of possibilities, and I can’t wait to see the results.
)
Still waiting on the Tengu ArenaNet.
We were also told last week about some teams haven’t been listed, and working on special and unique things. These could be new features and events, but no specifics were really given. We were only given a hint that they would have something for us in November. Maybe new story lines that are structured like the personal story could come from this team. Wait, what if new playable races are in the near future?!
I think you all get the picture by now. By breaking up live development into different teams, you can have a better focus on each part of the game, without another issue halting production of new content. It not only keeps Guild Wars 2 running smooth, but it also allows ArenaNet to bring us more content, and helps the game to expand without the need to wait on expansion packs. I always wondered how ArenaNet would pull it off, and I think this is a pretty solid plan. Now to see how it all unfolds. What do you think of this news? Leave us a comment below!
