Right now the MMO world is abuzz with Star Wars. But there is another monster on the horizon. A monster that everyone sees coming and we all just stand in shock and awe as it approaches. Guild Wars 2 is the game that will truly define the next decade of MMOs. It has so many features that put it ahead of the competition it is scary. I once had a major developer tell me that Star Wars will be the last major MMO, that it will be the final giant dinosaur to rule the landscape, if that is true, then Guild Wars 2 is the ten thousand ton mammoth who is storming south at the dawn of a new ice age. Mammoth, Norn, ice, cool, no pun intended. With all that Guild Wars 2 has to offer we have narrowed down five elements in the game that will just make it awesome to play. Please understand, there are many more, these are just five that we cannot get enough of:
5.) Everyone can Heal!
That’s right clerics, priests, paladins, druids, shaman, and every other healing class that was ever created. Your door is to the left, please exit the auditorium! Every class in Guild Wars 2 can heal! This takes the theory of the holy trinity and turns it on its ear. Warriors, Engineers, Necromancers, Elementalists, all of the classes have some form of healing. This is great. No more searching for healing classes to run instances, no more blaming the healer who is mashing buttons at light speed. Everyone now has the option to keep themselves alive in a fight. Some may view this as limiting, I view this as liberating. Now I can focus on my character no matter what class, I can play the way I want.
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4.) Fight for Your Life: Death System
The buzzer shot in Basketball, the two minute warning in football, a penalty shootout in Soccer, all of these can compare to the flahsing screen in Guild Wars 2 when you are about to die and you suddenly get special moves to fight for your life. If you have played the demos at a convention, this interface is truly unique and just pure awesome. Your life bar is going down, you start to get nervous, all of a sudden your screen changes and new abilities appear to simply survive combat. The person who thought of this entirely should be thanked at every game convention they attend for the rest of their life. I may sound over the top here, but this system is truly awesome.
3.) Personal Story
I know this is a growing trend in both big games, but Guild Wars 2 is pushing the envelope on personal story. Their philosophy is really fantastic; with the quote “We want you to create a character, not a character sheet.” The game is looking to make the MMO personal, something that many games have not done in this last decade. Star Wars is adding in major story elements as well to their game but thzat should be expected of Bioware. Guilds Wars personal housing instance in your home capital city may not seem totally new, but the idea is very cool. There is one thing that goes hand in hand with all these personal stories, and that is customization. With the right mix of story and customizable content could be the perfect brew for a player to really get the full personal feel for their character.
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2.) Three Server PvP
The Guild Wars 2 team has been quiet about PvP. There were ramblings a while back and then silence. One of the things we do know is that PvP will be a server vs. server system. This has been described as World vs. World gamne play. Now add in the best part, three servers competeing at once. Ever since WoW came on the scene we have had two faction MMOs. The old days of Dark Age of Camelot’s three faction system where quickly washed away. So for almost seven years we have seen games with only two factions for heavy PvP. Now Guild Wars 2 will be bringing in world PvP on an epic scale. I only hope that in the coming months we hear more about this system. With only a few hints to go on, this just sounds fantastic!
1.) Dynamic Events
By far the best part of Guild Wars 2 may be its powerful dynamic events system. Maps will change, areas will stay safe or become dangerous, you can almost feel the living breathing world of the MMO. This aspect of thegame will present some amazing game play opportunities for players. The philosophy of banding together as a realm against constant odds is the heart of every adventure game. With Guild Wars 2 we will have it in droves. Everything will be changing in the game all the time. It almost really makes it hard to log out. Overall this system working at its capacity will have the biggest impact on MMOs of the future. Guild Wars 2 Dynamic Events gets our number one spot of awesome!
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There are so many more features to the game, I feel bad only naming five. Short but sweet I suppose, if anything feel free to post other elements of the game you are looking forward to. We are all very excited to see what Guild Wars 2 has to offer and hopefully we will see a beta some time in the fall. Guild Wars 2 remains at the top of the charts, the more we see, the more we believe they will deliver.
