So… wow. After all this time, we finally have some solid concrete details on just what World vs. World (WvW) will entail in Guild Wars 2. We’ve digested the info that Mike Ferguson gave us in his blog post, ruminated on it a bit, and are ready to share with your our initial thoughts on just what awaits us in the Mists when GW2 launches later this year. With servers being matched up in battle every two weeks, and the warfront constantly raging day and night during the battle, it’s safe to say that PVP-ers will have a lot to do in GW2. In short, if you don’t fancy reading: Dark Age of Camelot fans are going to love this system.
FOUR GIGANTIC MAPS – TIED TOGETHER
Each two week battle will have three different servers pitted against one another. To help give these groups a massive place to fight over ANet has gone and built four distinct persistent maps that will be running during the course of the two week battle. Each server will have their own “safe” borderlands map, and the bulk of the battle will take place in the “Eternal Battlegrounds” with a massive central keep taking up the center.
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Our Thought: The teamwork two lesser servers will need to exhibit to overtake the big-bad will ultimately turn it on itself and the Borderlands will become just as crazy dangerous as the Eternal Battlegrounds. We also absolutely love the sound of keeps, destructible environments, underwater sieges, and so much more… lest we forget the siege weaponry itself. This leads us to our next piece of info.
OBJECTIVES GALORE
It doesn’t matter if there’s a lot of land to fight over unless there’s cool stuff to fight on, in, around and about too. ArenaNet has us covered apparently. Quoting the blog post:
“Whether you’re fighting your way though ancient ruins to assault a keep built atop the rubble, climbing up the side of a mountain to reach a tower on a peak that looms over a village below, or testing your amphibious infiltration skills with an underwater assault on an island castle in the middle of a lake teeming with hostile krait, you’ll agree that these fortresses are some seriously epic structures that guarantee some seriously epic fights.”
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Our Thought: There are also many smaller objectives, caravans, resource camps, quarries, logging camps, and even small towers to sack. Speaking of caravans, aside from always being on the offensive the blog post mentions protecting your own caravans and escorting them to the supply depots. Of course, you could just go over after the enemy’s, but it’s nice to see that teamwork and joint efforts will wind up being necessary.
SIEGE GOLEMS AND PERSONNEL UPGRADES
All of this fighting for realm-pride wouldn’t be the same or enough without some serious firepower behind it all. Thankfully, GW2 will come jam-packed with oodles of siege weapons as well. Listing them out, taken directly from the blog post:
- Trebuchets
- Arrow Carts
- Catapults
- Ballistae
- Siege Golems
Our Thought: On top of all this, you’ll be spending supplies to hire more NPC guards to protect your vested interests, strengthening your keeps’ defenses, and so much more. It’s safe to say that to do well in WvW, your server will need to learn to work together and form Guild Alliances.
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Mercenaries and Orbs, Oh My!
Remember how some of the best parts of DAOC’s RVR was when you took something from the other realm? Well, GW2 will be bringing that back with their own brand of WvW. Your team’s borderlands will have its own Orb of Power guarded heavily by NPCs, and it’ll be up to you to defend it and to strike out into the other teams’ borderlands and steal theirs from under their noses. Of course, once you have the orb, you’ll have to get it back to safety and onto an Altar of Power before it’s returned to whence it came.
If you’re having trouble getting things like this done? ANet has you covered there too. Presumably through the game’s dynamic events, you can win over the favor of mercenary camps of creatures such as ogres, who will then go on and attack the nearest enemy spot. They don’t work for you forever, but act like a buff to your own forces when you need a hand breaking down the defenses or just turning the tide of battle.
Our Thought: Holy mother of God, please don’t let my borderlands be sacked by ogres instead of players. We’ll be the laughing stock of the three servers.
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LAST THING: PLAY WVW AT ANY LEVEL
That’s right. Right from level one you can jump into the Mists and start fighting for your realm. Hell, I expect I’ll do just that come launch day. Each player will automatically be boosted to level 80 (the cap) when they enter the Mists, and while real level 80s will still have the advantage, the fake 80s can help out just as well. Just don’t expect to take on a seasoned 80 with an adjusted 80 and you won’t be disappointed. The best part of this? Well, I’ll let Mr. Ferguson say it:
“Even better, you continue to gain experience and new items while playing in the Mists. Players you kill will drop loot for you just like slain monsters in PvE. The player that was killed doesn’t lose any of their own equipment—that would suck—so you’ll never need to worry about losing your favorite rare weapon if you are defeated in WvW. Even better, any gear that is dropped for you will be level appropriate. You can improve your character’s weapons and armor as you fight!”
Our Thought: Not only is GW2 aiming to have some of the most novel and interesting PVE content around, apparently you never have to touch it if you’d prefer to spend days and nights in Tyria doing nothing but PVP. This… is why we want Guild Wars 2 so badly. They’re trying to make a game that focuses on fun at every turn, and does away with the mundane and the needlessly derivative mechanics that make us frustrated with the genre. We’ll find out this weekend if all these good ideas work as well as we hope.
