Guild Wars 2: Creating Your Story

[Korten12]

From: http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/personal-stories/personal-story-overview/
READ THE WHOLE THING TO GET ALL INFO

One of the challenges of a massively-multiplayer game is that in being inclusive to a vast number of people, it loses a lot of the personal interaction that makes single-player RPGs so much fun. When you're looking at the games on the store shelf, it seems you have only two options - a game that you can play with your friends, or a game that has a satisfying personal story. The Guild Wars 2 design team believes that a game should have both.

We've heard a lot of complaints that nothing you do in an MMO truly impacts the world. Fighting an epic enemy only to see him respawn a moment later, or feeling as if the most important thing you did today was murdering ten rats, can cause a game to have a flat, repetitive feel. In Guild Wars 2, we want to make sure your accomplishments are meaningful, and that story outcomes have an impact. In short, Guild Wars 2 provides stories that are both personally meaningful and epic, and to do so for each of thousands of players - all within the same interactive world.

Difficult? Yes. Impossible? No.

A character's biography will influence their storyline immediately. Once you have created your character's race, class, and gender, you may choose your physical appearance - and there are a ton of options! From there, you are offered a chance to answer several detailed questions about your character's personality, history, and background.

Some of these questions are defined by earlier choices - a character's race, class, or heritage. An asura will be asked what college they attended (Synergetics, Dynamics or Statics), while a human will be asked to define their social background (Gentry, Commoner, or Streets). Other questions might establish that your character has sympathy for a particular lesser race. A charr would have little opportunity to meet the peace-loving quaggan, as quaggan are sea-creatures and Ascalon has no coastal territory. So, while the game may have stories that focus on the quaggan, skritt, ogres, hylek, and grawl, a charr character chooses between grawl, skritt and ogres. A sylvari character, coming from the coastal Maguuma jungle, instead chooses between hylek, skritt and quaggan. In this way, we've made certain choices distinct to each race.

Guild Wars 2 tells the tale of the rise of the Elder Dragons of Tyria, the last chance for all nations to come together to save their world - but most importantly, it is the story of YOU, the player within that world, and the heroic adventures and tales you experience in this amazingly expansive world. Our philosophy is that the player is the most important part of the game. ArenaNet is bringing to life a massive world of events, storylines, and characters - all we need is you. So now I just have to ask you one thing...

What is your story?

omg... seriously every time info comes out it makes this game sound all the more epic...

 

[Brainst0rm]

I'm really excited for Guild Wars 2, but I'm trying to keep my expectations realistic. It's not exactly novel to *try* to do all these awesome things. Most MMORPGs like to herald their game as story-centric and other such crap. And honestly, a lot of the original Guild Wars story was lame.

I don't need spoiler tags for this, do I?

The big "reveal" that me and all my closest friends were 'Chosen' actually made me bust out laughing. It was so anticlimactic - every event so far has hinged upon my involvement, so WHAT?! I'm important?! Gasp! Nice twist!

I'm mean to Guild Wars because it's so good, but it does have some truly uninspired moments. I hope they just don't get too caught up in their idealistic intentions to make good gameplay. That's all that's gonna matter in the end.

 

[Korten12]

I'm really excited for Guild Wars 2, but I'm trying to keep my expectations realistic. It's not exactly novel to *try* to do all these awesome things. Most MMORPGs like to herald their game as story-centric and other such crap. And honestly, a lot of the original Guild Wars story was lame.

I don't need spoiler tags for this, do I?

The big "reveal" that me and all my closest friends were 'Chosen' actually made me bust out laughing. It was so anticlimactic - every event so far has hinged upon my involvement, so WHAT?! I'm important?! Gasp! Nice twist!

I'm mean to Guild Wars because it's so good, but it does have some truly uninspired moments. I hope they just don't get too caught up in their idealistic intentions to make good gameplay. That's all that's gonna matter in the end.

well the story can still be built upon for the sequel the story in Factions was quite good. (though I havent beaten it yet, near end.)

 

[Roos1993]

I'm dying for GW2 to come out!
Anyway idea when?

The stories in GW were quite weak to be honest but it is still my favourite MMORPG.

 

[Mr. Mike]

I'm kind of scared how the new skill system is going to turn out and how that could effect PVP and the like, but all in all I'm still excited. Really excited.

 

[Korten12]

I'm dying for GW2 to come out!
Anyway idea when?

The stories in GW were quite weak to be honest but it is still my favourite MMORPG.

late this year or start of next year.

 

[Bullet Alchemist]

I was addicted to the first four games so this is a must buy for me. Charr FTW who needs magic when you have strange swordy gun things.

 

[Brainst0rm]

I'm dying for GW2 to come out!
Anyway idea when?

The stories in GW were quite weak to be honest but it is still my favourite MMORPG.

late this year or start of next year.

I don't think ArenaNet has actually said anything, but next year is a safe bet. Balancing is a tricky business and tends to take longer than Developers predict...

 

[soilent]

Man I loved that game so much and my GW account has no much blood sweat tears and money poured into it, I hope theres a changeover between games.

 

[Korten12]

Man I loved that game so much and my GW account has no much blood sweat tears and money poured into it, I hope theres a changeover between games.

only character name will be kept as it takes place 200 or so years after GW so everyone we know is dead.

 

[Feriluce]

Man I loved that game so much and my GW account has no much blood sweat tears and money poured into it, I hope theres a changeover between games.

only character name will be kept as it takes place 200 or so years after GW so everyone we know is dead.

We know nothing about what will be kept exactly, only that it is somehow linked to the hall of monuments thing.

 

[soilent]

Man I loved that game so much and my GW account has no much blood sweat tears and money poured into it, I hope theres a changeover between games.

only character name will be kept as it takes place 200 or so years after GW so everyone we know is dead.

well at least alena the fire god can finally be a charr and fit in with the name, I swear, I always hated not being the fire race.

 

[Feriluce]

This is the only MMO I'm looking forward to. I put a lot of hours into the first GW, and it seems they've done nothing but improve on it in the sequel.

 

[Hiphophippo]

I try not to get too pulled into the hype train publishers role out for games. It almost always isn't as cool as they make it sound.

I'd like to see this game do well too though.

 

[Korten12]

I try not to get too pulled into the hype train publishers role out for games. It almost always isn't as cool as they make it sound.

I'd like to see this game do well too though.

trust Arenanet and they will succedd.

 

[Hiphophippo]

I try not to get too pulled into the hype train publishers role out for games. It almost always isn't as cool as they make it sound.

I'd like to see this game do well too though.

trust Arenanet and they will succedd.

we'll see. I thought the first guild wars was pretty boring.

 

[Wicky_42]

Is it going to be free to play as the first game was? If so, then I might let myself get interested

 

[Korten12]

I try not to get too pulled into the hype train publishers role out for games. It almost always isn't as cool as they make it sound.

I'd like to see this game do well too though.

trust Arenanet and they will succedd.

we'll see. I thought the first guild wars was pretty boring.

well the only real similarites between this and the first game is that its the same world and storyline, combat is going to be faster paced and accutaly meant to be fun (though I did like the combat in the first game.)

http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/combat/part-two/

http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/dynamic-events/dynamic-events-overview/

http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/elementalist/

http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/combat/part-one/

http://www.arena.net/blog/guild-wars-2-design-manifesto

 

[Wicky_42]

Man I loved that game so much and my GW account has no much blood sweat tears and money poured into it, I hope theres a changeover between games.

only character name will be kept as it takes place 200 or so years after GW so everyone we know is dead.

We know nothing about what will be kept exactly, only that it is somehow linked to the hall of monuments thing.

FAQ quote:

Can I play my original Guild Wars character in Guild Wars 2?
Guild Wars 2 is a whole new game with different professions and races, new technology, and expanded gameplay. It is not possible to directly use an original Guild Wars character.

However, your original Guild Wars character names will be reserved for your use in Guild Wars 2. The Hall of Monuments in Guild Wars 2 recognizes the accomplishments commemorated by your original Guild Wars characters and provides you with unique rewards to showcase those achievements.

 

[mrfusspot]

It sounds really good, but how much of all this are they actually gonna deliver? I'm looking forward to this as much as the next guy, but I'm afraid we're just gonna get a huge Molyneaux on our hands.
I mean, how much is hype and how much is actually gonna work out?