Fansite Friday/Italian Lair

Fansite:  The Italian Lair

Date:  22 October 2004

Number:  20

Q&A
Question: What you can tell us about localizations?

Answer: We’re on target for Guild Wars localization, which is the customization of the game for a certain language or culture. The Guild Wars localization leader recently joined our team, and he is coordinating the localization throughout Europe and either directly, or in a partnership with our Korean team, is coordinating the project for Asia, as well. The team of localization experts will be undertaking the substantial project that will present Guild Wars to you in a variety of languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Japanese and Chinese.

I was at a London event tonight with members of the press from all over Europe. They confirmed that even today, most games have a “rolling start,” and that the games, or their updates, come to different countries at different times. The games may be released in the United States and Canada, and then take months to reach the fans in other countries. I can see where with a game like Guild Wars, this could have a very significant outcome on tournament competiveness, in that some players would have a chance to play for months and some would have a chance to play for only a few days. We strongly feel that gamers everywhere should be able to join Guild Wars and should be able to enjoy world updates in a timely fashion. We will be presenting Guild Wars in a worldwide release, and we will be offering localizations for the languages listed above in a timely fashion as well.

Question: Will patches be used only to fix the game, or will you add some content with a new patch?

Answer: The world of Guild Wars will be altered over time in several ways: First of all, players will be able to change the world with their tournament victories, with the completion of quests, or with the acquisition of quest rewards or the solving of in-game mysteries. Over time, what people do in the world will greatly affect the world itself. And that world will change – in both major and subtle ways – with the addition of new content. For it’s not simply with the new chapter of Guild Wars that we will see new content. The Guild Wars story will grow in substantial ways between the releases of each chapter. These changes may involve the addition of new maps, new regions, new quests and sub-quests, new monsters, new items, even possibly a new PvP area.

We’ll never have a “Patch Day” where we need to take down our entire network in order for everyone to draw new game assets. Instead, you acquire the new assets via our seamless technology as you prepare to play the next mission or hunting ground.

Question: The WPE takes place during the Halloween weekend; will there be some themed surprises for us?

Answer: Oh, I have a feeling someone, or a lot of someones, will be having fun with this holiday weekend! :-) In fact, you almost wonder if the weekend was chosen specifically because it is a major holiday. When I look back at the alpha test over the last two years, I remember that for the first Halloween we had a scarecrow mysteriously appear in town, surrounded by a pumpkin patch. We were able to purchase a “Jason Mask” and a “Jason’s Knife” from a local vendor, too. Last year, it appeared as if nothing special was planned for Halloween until suddenly, a few hours before the All Call Session, the town was radically altered. All NPC’s were turned into skeletons. Instead of the normal sunny skies, a huge full moon hung over a shadowy nighttime town. Gravestones popped into town as casual props. Shadows were filled with lurking zombies just meandering around, giving the place an even spookier atmosphere. And the item that you could purchase was a large pumpkinhead and this one even allowed customization with the dye vials. It was stupendous! I haven’t seen a single thing on the drawing board for this holiday, but that’s part of the fun. The element of surprise and the sheer number of possibilities offered in a game supported with streaming content is delightful. And let’s just think about what we could do for Christmas and New Year’s… :-)

Bonus Question: Will there be an universal storage space for all characters in one account or we'll have to 'mule' items from one char to another?

Answer: Universal storage space is definitely in the plans. Won’t it be nice to not have to spend half your playing time not really playing, but passing off items for your other characters?