In just three short weeks, MMORPG.com will be heading to the New York Comic-Con at the Jacob Javits Center where ArenaNet will also be in attendance. Not only will ArenaNet be showing Guild Wars 2 and allowing those of us on the east coast to get our hands on the demo that was playable at GamesCom and PAX Prime, but ArenaNet will also be hosting their own “Building a Better MMO” panel featuring Guild Wars 2 designers Eric Flannum and Colin Johanson.
But wait, there’s more! MMORPG.com will be hosting our own panel at NYCC this year as well. Dubbed “The Future of Online Gaming,” we’ll be looking ahead towards the future of this great genre, and the folks at ArenaNet will be on hand to answer questions and share their own thoughts on the subject.
NYCC is shaping up to be a pretty solid show for fans of Guild Wars 2, and it appears I may finally get my chance to go hands-on with the game. I’m looking forward to checking out ArenaNet’s panel, but I’m even more curious to see what our readers and other fans in attendance at the MMORPG.com panel will ask our guests. Earlier this year at PAX East, we hosted the same panel with a different array of developers, and the Q&A portion of the panel proved to be very productive with a lot of interesting questions and even more interesting answers from the panelists. Hopefully lightning will strike twice!
Guild Wars 2 is a perfect fit for our panel as ArenaNet is making some pretty bold claims about their game and is looking to break the mould. How will Guild Wars 2 fit into the future of online gaming? I’m curious to find out ArenaNet’s thoughts. The original Guild Wars was “buy to play”, where gamers would simply pay for the box and any other optional expansions that were released afterwards, but this was for a CORPG on a much smaller scale. I’m really itching to find out what makes them confident that their “B2P” model will work with a full-blown MMORPG such as Guild Wars 2, and how they plan on delivering regular content to voracious MMORPG gamers with only box sales to sustain the game. I’m not sure the campaign system used for the original Guild Wars expansions would work in Guild Wars 2; I imagine we’d be looking at new expansions in the vein of typical MMORPG expansions, but that’s all speculation at this point.
Should I get a chance to get my hands on the Guild Wars 2 demo, I’ll be sure to grab video if it is allowed, though I’ve gotta warn you, I’ll be playing the Ranger! I pretty much play a Ranger-type class in every MMO that will facilitate it so I hope to get a good look at the class. I don’t recall seeing the Ranger with a pet by his side in the various videos I’ve seen from PAX and GamesCom, so I’ll be on the lookout for my trusty Flamingo to aid me in my battles during the demo.
Will you be in attendance at NYCC? And do you have plans to attend either the Guild Wars 2 or MMORPG.com panels (or both!)? Let us know in the comments below, and share your thoughts on what your expectations and hopes are for New York Comic-Con this year.
