This is part two, catch part one here.
The new year is looking bright for Guild Wars 2, but updates and improvements to the world itself, World vs. World gameplay, and the functionality and fun of guilds themselves wasn’t enough for Colin Johansen.
PvP
The PvP is going to be seeing some sizable updates over the coming year.
The first and quite possibly most major update mentioned by Johansen is a a full overhaul of the basic functionality and systems behind the PvP. As mentioned in the streamcast in my previous article series, the basic system that Guild Wars 2’s PvP operates with is counter-intuitive in many ways to having a serious competitive side to its PvP on the type of level expected from a potential e-sport. This evaluation/overhaul could totally revolutionize Guild Wars 2’s PvP competitive scene overnight.
He mentions as well implementing an actual matchmaking system into the game, allowing experienced and skilled players to face each other and new players to face similarly novice combatants. This would go a long way to making the PvP accessible and enjoyable to people who aren’t already at the top-tier of talent.
They will also be adding in the ability to watch other people play (spectator mode is a must for any e-sport) and to be able to watch replays of ranked matches to be able to learn and analyze what actually happened and how to improve. The ability to host your own custom arenas (with customizable rules) will allow for simple dueling and practice scrimmages between top teams, while also providing some good non-tournament streaming opportunity for prospective Guild Wars 2 celebrities. He also mentions updating and improving the PvP rewards system, so don’t roll your eyes at your Glory total just yet, everyone!
The rest of it
At that point, Johansen seemed to realize how long his post had gotten and decided to speed up the last of the revealed hints, making it into a bullet-point list. To summarize…
Arenanet will implement leaderboards on their website to compare abilities between players.
They’ll expand and redesign boss encounters both in dungeons and the open world.
There will be new types of achievements.
Bugs will be dealt with faster, bots will be targeted more effectively.
Parts of the game people like will continue to be enhanced with new content.
New players will be given easier ways to get into the game without being overwhelmed from the start.
It will be easier to find a party for certain objectives.
The detailed improvements to fractal dungeons previously mentioned by Isaiah Cartwright will be implemented.
That’ll do
Guild Wars 2 has not quite been the completely revolutionary MMO experience that some were hoping for, but it has done a remarkable job of making an early impact and shows great promise for the coming year. Stay tuned and game on, players.
Part 2
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