by Griffin McElroy on Aug 27th 2011 10:30PM
Of the many - so, so many - MMOs represented on the PAX Prime 2011 show floor, ArenaNet's long-in-development Guild Wars 2 easily presents the most outside-the-box thinking. Where other entries in the genre tend to bet at their generation and try to iteratively repair their rough edges, Guild Wars 2 throws out baby, bathwater and tub, starting with a home that's altogether unprecedented.
Take, for instance, this core conceit: Why do other MMOs require you to abide still to use most of your character's abilities? Why not let them to burn off powers while ducking and dodging through salvos of enemy attacks? Why not let heroes use their powers, regardless of whether or not they're targeting an enemy? Why not put some activity in your MMO, or vice versa? ArenaNet seems to get noticed most developers' proclivity for sacrificing streamlined gameplay for staple MMO characteristics, and repeatedly asked that very question: Why?
The present I played answered each of those questions with some pretty bold, albeit totally commonsense features of its own. Battles do go with breakneck speed, with players double-tapping movement directions to plunge out of the way of oncoming attacks. This point has its own energy meter, though, preventing you from skirting all the terms you have coming to you.
While exercising these feats of agility, you can also fire off one of your five special attacks. There's no energy meter for you to deplete; you alone give to handle with each ability's typically short cooldown period. The disentanglement of a genre-staple mana pool is a switch that was only unified in this latest form of the title, but a fair one: It only served as another unnecessary hurdle to temporarily prevent players from performing the plot they assumedly purchased.
Here's where things get complicated: Each weapon class (hammers, pistols, blunderbusses) have five abilities which change based on which character profession you're acting as, and unlock over time. For instance, that dagger will have five abilities to the Magician that don't even resemble the five abilities it unlocks for the Thief. The player's other five ability slots are populated by permanent utility, healing and elite powers - but the first five can (and will! be swapped out at will during a fight.
Your weapon set determines what sort of role you'll take from inside the confines of your profession, making for a scheme which promotes both class specialization and class-defying variety. For example, with a hammer, your Engineer's abilities might give you a competent melee brawler. If occasion calls for it, though, you could hardly as easily switch to your dual pistols on the fly, and launch a serial of 5 other powers against enemies from afar.
Why doesn't everyone do that?
And oh, the adventuring you'll do. During my demo, it seemed like there were dynamic quests around every corner, almost all of which were links in longer, more rewarding quest chains. For instance, encountering a bulwark, I was approached by an NPC guard - yes, the NPC approached me - and yelled for my aide. After helping hold off the enemy onslaught and finish the quest, a new quest presented itself; one which tasked me with defeating a ten-story tall mound of sentient earth.
Why don't all MMOs give you the atonement of falling a boss like that within your first ten minutes of the game. Why give us realize that satisfaction, instead of distributing it so freely? Isn't more satisfaction better than less?
You recognize what else is satisfying? Having an extra set of underwater weapons, which take their own skillsets that enrich the see of fight in a 3D space. For example, one weapon allowed the Guardian class to bolo-throw a great weight onto the ankles of a submerged foe, dragging him to the seat of the main deep. Another traps an opposition in a bubble, sending them floating harmlessly to the surface.
Almost a fourth of the plot takes place under the rise of the sea - entire cities and dungeons are buried under leagues of water, just wait to be explored. (Each type also comes equipped with a breathing mask, meaning you don't get to care about pesky consequences like drowning.)
There's also a Player vs. Player system which can embroil three entire servers in a two-week long war, netting server-wide bonuses for the winner. A brief PVP demonstration showed off a city-wide warzone, where towering trebuchets could be exploited to tap down entire buildings, clearing paths between your cohorts and their objectives.
There are simply so many smart parts moving beneath the rise of Guild Wars 2, such as a crafting system which allows you to experimentation and make your own recipes, a sidekicking option which lets you advance the degree of your ally or lower your own. It doesn't just feel good - it looks exciting, and with a subscription-free business model, it should command the aid of MMO diehards and decriers alike.
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