ArenaNet Blog: Microtransactions

I like chocolate.  And monies.

Mike O'Brien is at it again with the latest ArenaNet blog post.  To most GW players, this information is nothing new.  This time around, Guild Wars 2 microtransactions will be in the game from day one.  Head over to the official ArenaNet Blog for the full article.

Make It So: Design Manifesto Part 4

Today in Make It So, we are going to dissect the final portion of the GW2 Design Manifesto.  If you’ve been following the Make It So series, awesome.  If you haven’t, I recommend going back and reading Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 before reading the rest of this article.  This is the last Make It So dedicated to the Manifesto.


Combat can make or break your game.  Just as with everything else in GW2, ArenaNet is really seeking to break out of the ‘’cookie cutter’’ traditional MMO style combat.


Click past the break to find out how.

Forbes Interviews Mike O'brien

Forbes posted an article yesterday where they interviewed Mike O'brien. Since this was a talk more geared to an investor oriented reader base, we didn't get a lot of mechanics or flashy reveals.  However, we did get reiteration of ArenaNet's commitment to excellence and ingenuity.

Thanks to guildwarsinsider.com for the heads up.

Make It So: GW2 Design Manifesto Part 3

If you haven't been following Make It So, I recommend going back and reading GW2 Design Manifesto Part 1, and GW2 Design Manifesto Part 2.  It will help today's post make more sense when read in context of the other two parts.  We start today off with the title of the next section in the Manifesto:

It's time to make MMORPG's more social.

How can MMORPG's be more social?  Aren't these real people around us playing the game at the same time we are?  Isn't this tank a real person? You know, the one that has to stand and do nothing the entire time, then flip out when he dies because he decided to stand in the big black circle labeled death?

When ArenaNet says things like "time to make MMORPG's more social", or ''how can we do ____ better?", what they really are saying is "This is how we are making Guild Wars 2 more awesome".

Click past the break to see how GW2 is taking the social aspect of MMO's to the next level.

Make It So: GW2 Design Manifesto Part 2

Choices, choices, choices.  Wait, what?  This is a blog about MMO's, and there's no such thing as choices and consequences in MMO's.  You run over, click the random NPC, accept a quest without reading what he/she (or it) wants you to do and then follow the map queues to complete the quest.  

Optional quest to help save a burning village?  Why would I want to do that when it will be burning for the next, oh I don't know, FOREVER?  

If it's one thing that has plagued MMO's since day one, it is the lack of a dynamic and changing world.  I understand there are technical limitations,  as you have hundreds of players doing the same thing. If one person completes the quest to save the burning village, then no one else can?  Or what about that critical choice to have the soup or the salad?

Choice and consequence have been severely lacking in MMO's over the last decade.    Join us after the break to see how ArenaNet is addressing this problem.