“one of the trading sites associated with Guild Wars may have experienced a security breach and its account database (including user names and passwords) may be in the hands of hackers.”

This message by ArenaNet earlier this year is the message that players never want to hear, and as history tends to repeat itself, this message came alongside a tidal wave of lost accounts. For the past couple of months, ArenaNet has been working tirelessly to boost the security of the system, and the first changes are finally making their way in-game.

Those of you who log into Guild Wars will notice that there is a new option to fill in. Aside from your username and password, you will have to correctly name one of the characters on your account. ArenaNet is continuing to formulate methods of keeping accounts secure, so this new field is not the only change to come.

Although the new field will help with brute force exploits, it won’t do anything to help one of the leading causes of lost accounts: key loggers. Blizzard had a good idea by introducing the security dongle that changes your password every couple of seconds. As long as you don’t lose the dongle, your account is essentially theft-proof.

More on people with poor account security (using the same password for a game and its much more hack-prone fansite) as it appears.

Arena Net today announced that they have posted a video that will allow people to go behind the sceans of the voices of the GW2 character trailer.

“Behind the scenes with the vocal cast of the Races of Tyria video!”

Enjoy!

ArenaNet has posted some behind the scenes footage from the voice recording session for the Races of Tyria video.

From Press Release:

In the upcoming MMO Guild Wars 2, choosing which of the five distinctive races to play is just the first step down the road to your ultimate destiny. Starting with this crucial decision, your character’s epic tale begins. With their new preview video, NCsoft and ArenaNet pull back the curtain to reveal more details of the five diverse player races in Guild Wars 2. Which will you choose?

Take the role of a noble human defender and fight for the survival of your people. Play a ferocious feline charr, carving a trail of conquest. Become one of the brilliant asura to study hidden knowledge and harness incredible magical technology. Assume the form of a shapeshifting norn, the massive battle-forged warriors from the far north. Explore the mysteries of Tyria as one of the sylvari, a mystical new race of plant spirits. From these five races, mighty heroes shall rise!

[Via NCsoft]

The latest Guild Wars 2 trailer, The Races of Tyria, was released today. Click here for more information, and visit the official website to download high resolution versions of the trailer.

An introductory video to the various races that dwell within the lands of Tyria.

ArenaNet y NCsoft, desarrolladores de la saga Guild Wars, han afirmado que en 2010 tan sólo se podrá disfrutar de una beta privada. Jaeho Lee, consejero delegado de NCsoft West, prevé que su comercialización no llegue hasta 2011, según comentó en la presentación de resultados trimestrales de la empresa afincada en Washington.

La historia de Guild Wars 2 se situará 250 años después de los acontecimientos de la última expansión de Guild Wars, Eye of the North. En esta ocasión, múltiples razas no humanas estarán disponibles, algunas de las que ya vimos en el anterior juego como enemigos. El título promete continuar ofreciendo una experiencia online similar a los MMORPG, recurriendo a la fórmula de micropagos en lugar de las cuotas mensuales que requieren otros juegos del género.

El tráiler presentado el pasado mes de agosto:

NCsoft und ArenaNet geben ausgewählten Spielern von Guild Wars zukünftig die Möglichkeit, Updates und Fertigkeitsänderungen als Mitglied einer Test-Crew (Live Test Krewe) vorab zu testen.

Spieler, die Interesse haben, ein Krewe-Mitglied zu werden, können sich über ein Formular dafür bewerben. Wer sich gerne bewerben möchte, sollte sich aber sputen, denn die Bewerbungsfrist läuft ab. Der Stichtag ist der 8. September.

Quelle

The World of Warcraft servers were down over lunch (until 2PM PST) so I decided to jump into Guild Wars. After spending some time reorienting myself to the game interface, I was off on a quest with a group of henchmen. Ruins of vast old cities, minotaurs, and ice giants were just a few of the sights and creatures that were encountered. Fun stuff. I had forgotten just how beautiful the graphics in this game are. Not only are the graphics beautiful but the scale and vastness of the games world is simply incredible. So why did I leave this game in the first place?

1. Guild Wars lacked that hook that other MMOs (WoW, LOTRO) have to keep me going.
2. Confusion over PVE versus PVP characters. I’d prefer to build a character for all seasons.
3. A level 20 cap that ended in gameplay being focused on finding the perfect skill set. I did not have the time nor interest to do this.

The lunch hour is only so long, and so are my musings. Until next time.

Guild Wars started in 2005, a short while after WoW, and is a very successful free MMORPG with 6 Million units sold. The game already has 3 campaigns and an expansion running. ArenaNET announced in 2007 that they will also have a sequel to the game; we haven’t heard from them until now. Guild Wars 2 will also be free like the first one, but unlike it predecessor, it will be an action MMORPG. By the looks of the trailer, I have a feeling GW2 will take its genre to a whole another level.

Happy, happy day, boys and girls! It turns out that Guild Wars 2 is a hell of a lot further along than we previously thought! This trailer doesn’t surprise me from a technical standpoint- the artwork is simply mind-blowing. Watch the trailer and see if you don’t agree with me that GW2 WILL release on or around April 28th 2010(for the original game’s 5th anniversary). Enjoy!

Speechless!

Hey there,

I’ve just watched the Q&A session hosted by ArenaNet at the NCsoft booth in Hall 9 at GamesCom in Cologne, Germany. And here is a summary of what was said:

• Further along in 2009 we’ll get more information about the lore and how the world has evolved during those 250 years. 2010 will then be a year full of gameplay specific information such as classes, crafting vocations (yes there will be crafting!), skills, etc.
• Again a confirmation that they’ll stick to the same business model (“Buy the game, play for free, forever”).
• According to Jeff Grubb, the dragons in Guild Wars 2 are way more powerful than the ones we saw in the original Guild Wars. The dragons from the first are just shadows of Zhaitan and his “friends”. The ancient dragons will bring destruction and corruption into the world and Zhaitan will scare off the remaining human gods while his undead army rises from the depths.
• Daniel Dociu told the crowd that his team put 2 months of work into the trailer and that they are very happy with the result. Also, in name of the entire team over at ArenaNet, he thanked every Guild Warsfan out there for the amazing response to the trailer and support during this period of complete silence. For the trailer ArenaNet decided not to go with the flow of normal gaming trailers but they wanted to do something different. Something that also showed what an amazingly talented team they have over here. And I’d have to agree with them on that, the trailer just looked too gorgeous for words. Dociu then mentioned that Guild Wars 2will be a game with values they all believe in and the reworked game engine allows better transition of the art into the game and that will greatly benefit the look and feel of the world.
• There will be exploration and combat underwater and this opens up tons of new ways for players to explore world and really feel like they are a part of it.
• All races must stand together to bring Zhaitandown but this however doesn’t mean that they are “best friends”. All races still have issues, the humans and the charr just came out of a long war and still don’t fully trust each other and also the other races have very fragile relationships.

If you want to watch the next Q&A session, you’ll have to tune in HERE tomorrow at around 12pm (CET).

~Eli

A new Guild Wars 2 trailer was shown yesterday, which had several points of interest and looks pretty good.  Currently there is no scheduled release date for the game, but to wet your appetite a little the following was posted on the official website:

For generations, war and chaos raged across the land of Tyria. Five great races competed and warred against each other, struggling to tip the balance of power in their favor.

Then the dragons woke.

The all-powerful beasts stirred from their millennial sleep under earth and sea. With their magical breath the dragons spread destruction and created legions of twisted slaves. A deathless dragon named Zhaitan raised the sunken nation of Orr, triggering earthquakes and tidal waves that destroyed entire cities across the Sea of Sorrows.

Zhaitan’s undead armies surged from the sea, hungry for the destruction of the five races of Tyria: the charr, a ferocious race of feline warriors; the asura, magical inventors of small size and great intellect; the norn, towering shapeshifters from the frigid northern lands; the sylvari, a mysterious young race of visionary plant folk; and the humans, an embattled but resilient people.

Now heroes from the five races must set aside ancient rivalries and stand together against their common enemies.

Magic, technology, and cold steel will determine the ultimate fate of the world.

And now for the video:

I’ve dug up some additional notes as well, including:

It was played and recorded in real-time at true 1080p HD resolution, not scaled up artificially.

The animated lore part of the video is produced at 1080p resolution from the ground up. All assets are created at true 1080p resolution.

The animated, pre-rendered lore intro portion of the video was done completely in-house. This was not contracted out to a specialty studio that produces high-end pre-rendered videos. All of the illustrations, animation, editing, and rendering was done at ArenaNet.

The in-game part of the video is actual in-game footage. It was rendered in real-time in the game engine and recoded live using video capture hardware. Nothing was pre-rendered. All models, textures, and other assets are actual game play versions. They haven’t been prettied up for marketing purposes.
Maps are works in progress, and may change to better fit game play.

The team is working hard to make the game even more beautiful for the full release.

The first Guild Wars 2 trailer premiered today. For more information, visit the official website.

Eurogamer and IGN have posted previews of the game.

Out of all the upcoming MMORPG’s, Guild Wars 2 is the one that excites me the most.  In my opinion, Guild Wars is one of the best games of all time.  None of the campaigns or their expansion pack has disappointed me.  I have such high expectations for Guild Wars 2 that it’s going to be nearly impossible for ArenaNet to meet them.

After what feels like many long years of silence, ArenaNet is finally starting to come out of their shell and releasing some real information about GW2.  The official GW2 website was just updated with a great trailer…a lot of story fluff, but some real game footage.  No gameplay yet, but plenty of expansive and wildly creative landscapes, buildings and things I can’t even try to identify.

www.guildwars2.com

The official Guild Wars wiki does have a GW2 FAQ with some details, but finally seeing some real images and video makes me feel like Guild Wars 2 isn’t so far away.

The trailer is a perfect example of why I think ArenaNet has some of the best game graphics designers.  It’s absolutely stunning and overflowing with style.  I’m sure that their programming wizards will figure out a way to make it run nice and smooth, even on average PC machines.

Okay, back to the Champions Online beta.  I’ve been trying to write a post about CO, but I’m having too much fun playing.

Ask someone if World of Warcraft is an MMO, and you’re bound to receive a raised eyebrow, and the kind of look you can generally only get when you ask how to download the internet on to your computer so you can go online. World of Warcraft is a persistent world, where players travel across miles of open terrain, fighting varied mobs, gaining levels, fighting other players, completing instances, etc. There is no doubt for many players that World of Warcraft is an MMO.

When Guild Wars Prophecies was released in 2005, the question of this game’s status as an MMORPG sparked some debate on the issue. The game is run solely through instances, leading opponents of the idea to claim that the game was simply an online role playing game, and that the mechanics worked similarly to Halo 2 in the sense of ranking up and PvP. Supporters of the game receiving the title claim that the “lobbies” in which players freely interact is indeed persistent and allow the player to run around as an avatar.

I called this the “Guild Wars Debate” although the discussion fundamentally has nothing to do with Guild Wars. We already know Guild Wars isn’t an MMO, ArenaNet has confirmed that it is a CORPG (Competitive Online Role Playing Game). Games that this brings into question are the new and upcoming games that call themselves MMOs, but are they really? Or are they just shooters with a monthly fee strapped on? Am I asking rhetorical questions that I’m about to answer?

Disregarding what ArenaNet thinks, it does come down to the fact that Guild Wars is not a true MMO. Neither is Crimecraft, nor Huxley, nor Global Agenda, and technically neither is The Agency. Crimecraft and Huxley’s developers were keen enough not to label their titles as an MMO, and as a result they’ve been purged from the list (I know, such an exclusive blog). I’ll be taking a further look at Global Agenda and The Agency as more details arise on both to figure out of they are really an MMO.

Through my research, I’ve discovered that the one true factor that separates MMOs from RPGs and shooters is the presence of the “lobby” and what role it plays in the game. In an MMO, as opposed to a multiplayer shooter, the persistent world is where a majority of the gameplay takes place, as opposed to just being a hub to meet people to enter instances with. Every MMO with the exception of a few, have instances. It all depends on the importance placed on those instances, and what can be done outside, and inside, of them that makes the difference.

If you accept that the lobby being avatar based makes the game an MMO, then Grand Theft Auto IV becomes an MMO. If leveling is what makes an MMO, then Halo 2/3 become an MMOFPS. Is it the bank and the unlock-able and interchangeable items? We’ve added Team Fortress 2 to the list. A ranking system? Practically ever shooter released these past few years.

I don’t do this out of some creepy fetish for making a list and purging it. Partially it is because I feel that some of these games are giving off the wrong signals and opening themselves up for bad PR when people eventually come to the game and say “What is this? I can get this same gameplay without paying 15 bucks a month!”

Planetside is a true MMOFPS. Maybe it’s giving us impossible expectations for future titles?

Once upon a time, many years ago, I journeyed to the land of Tyria for the first time.  Tyria was a land free of subscription based play and featured a unique content delivery system. Guild Wars was new, fun, and graphically impressive.

The recent stirrings of Guild War 2 news has me wondering, what has happened in Guild Wars since I left? Besides the three expansions (Factions, Nightfall, Eye of the North), does anyone still play this game?

Intrigued, I decided to download the client, install the game, and log in. I was then greeted with the the familiar load screen. Only this time, 24,408 files were in desperate need of download. Admission to Tyria was denied over my lunch hour. At least for today.

After a period of great radio silence regarding the development of Guild Wars 2, the folks at ArenaNet are beginning to chatter once more. Over on the Guild Wars Official Wiki, ArenaNet head Mike O’Brien writes:

Hey all,

Last week I promised you’d get your first glimpse of Guild Wars 2 “very soon now”. That day is almost here.

I want to thank all our fans for their patience as we developed the game to the point where we can start talking about it publically. I know you’ve all been anxiously awaiting this moment. You’ll soon understand how ambitious we’ve been and what we’ve accomplished during these past two years of development. We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but from here on out we’ll be able to provide you with more regular updates.

Guild Wars 2 is going to be a huge leap beyond the original. We have the best team in the industry executing at the top of their game, and I’m very proud of what our team has accomplished so far. As I said last week, I’m confident that when you get your first look at what we’ve been working on, you’re going to love what you see. Stay tuned for an exciting week ahead.

–Mike O’Brien 20:31, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Look to JohnnyBGamer.com for the latest in Guild Wars 2 news & information!