4/30/2023 0 Comments Hold the line gw2![]() You even pick what kind of parents you had. “I am proud to be… a Blood Legion soldier.” Or maybe, if you’re more technologically inclined, you’d rather join the Iron Legion. ![]() In character creation, on top of picking race and class you come up with a Biography, based on which options you pick relating to your backstory and background. GW aims to have some degree of tailored persistence, as well as setting your character up as, well, a character, not a mere avatar. We’ve seen attempts at this in the past, perhaps most notably Conan’s short-lived destiny quests in its earliest levels, but it’s always seemed to peter out because the world in general reflect the actions of thousands of players, not yours specifically. Playing a big part of that is how much the game is geared towards ostensibly solo play, for those who wish to play it that way. I have no doubt for many players it be a game of numbers, but for me, and excitingly, there’s that rich chance it might feel that much more like a world too. Painted stripes rather than brutalist boxes hold key information, while a boss monster that’s hurling giant rocks at players has the destinations of those rocks paintbrushed onto the ground rather than depicted as the traditional glowing circle.Įven if much of the information is familiar information, those two, usually at-odds arms of an MMO – the fantastical world and the overtly gamey way in which you interact with it – seem that much more merged and of one mind. It’s in the cinematics, it’s in the character selection screen –lushly-painted portraits rather than twitching 3D models – and it’s even in the core of the UI. The painterly GW2 concept art we’ve been swooining over for the last half-decade has not been shrugged away and consigned to the hollow fate of a special edition art book, but instead folded into the game proper, all over the place. For Guild Wars 2, there’s a clear interest in it being attractive as well as efficient. For your average or even superior MMO, the main design focus of a UI appears to be how to present an awful lot of information as unfussily and tidily as possible. Here’s why.įirst up, there’s the interface. I still don’t know how much of what it’s trying to do will be practicable and effective over long-term play, but seeing it took me back to a time before my awful genre ennui, back to when every time I sat down to see a new MMO my mood was excitement, not cynicism. My most recent sighting of Guild Wars 2 really did break through that numbness, made me sit up straight and pay full attention. Too often, I feel a numbness, a struggle to reconcile professionally wanting to know what's going on with personally despairing of the idea of giving over dozens of hours of my life to what's so often a mess of cloned features and over-sold, under-realised promises. ![]() ![]() I smile back politely, and the same old dance begins. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve walked into a room with a monitor and a nervously-smiling man at one end and been told I’m about to see the future of MMOs. ![]()
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