Fansite Friday/Hispano

Fansite:  Guild Wars Hispano

Date:  28 January 2005

Number:  30

Q&A
Question: Have you already thought about the future of the expansions? Have you thought about including any new professions?

Answer: While conceiving and executing this first chapter of Guild Wars, naturally we give some thought to the future storyline, even if that isn’t the focus at present. There is a lot of tantalizing mystery in where the story will go. One thing has been stated, though: Each chapter of Guild Wars will be a complete story in and off itself. There will be no frustrating “cliffhangers” where you don’t know the outcome and are left in suspense, obliged to wait months to get the next chapter in order to learn the resolution of important story elements. Each chapter is assured of having a satisfying conclusion, but there will be a natural flow from each chapter to the next in your Guild Wars experience.

We have definitely considered new professions for the next chapter. In this chapter, Guild Wars has some archetypal character, such as the Warrior, Ranger, Monk, and Necromancer. But there are also interesting variations from the conventional, with the Elementalist (she is not exactly your everyday sorceress, is she?) and the Mesmer. There are several other traditional character classes that we could look at, and of course there are an even greater number of non-traditional professions we might conceive. We will be giving this a lot of consideration as we start working on the next chapter. You know, it seems to me that the subject of future Guild Wars professions might make for a very interesting fansite poll!

Question: Will the pre-made level 20 competition characters have any disadvantage when compared to the normal level 20 characters?

Answer: The ready-made characters will be substantially different than those that you "raise" yourself from Level 1. The ready-made characters come in many different builds. This variety offers you the chance to try out different gameplay styles and lots of unique skills and skill combinations without acquiring the full mission experience. And naturally there is a large and growing number of these custom builds. For example, there is the Paladin build, which is made up of a Warrior primary and a Monk secondary. The Paladin is able to use adrenaline sword skills while healing himself and his party members. There's the Dazer, a primary Mesmer and a secondary Ranger who is able to interrupt her opponents' spellcasting while inflicting ranged damage with a bow. And there are many others, as well. There will be a lot of combinations, or builds, so you should have a lot of opportunities to choose the combination, and the gameplay style, that suits you or that suits your current mood.

At the present time the ready-mades have eight skills carefully chosen for that particular build, and those skills will not be replaceable. On the other hand, ready-mades will have attribute points that you will be able to alter. Ready-made skills, attributes and items are selected for a certain build. When speaking of items, it's notable that the ready-mades will be given a specified inventory and armor set or sets suitable for their dual professions and they will not be able to acquire additional or replacement items.

Question: What kind of distinctions and options will the guilds have apart from capes?

Answer: Aside from the coolness factor of the guild capes, there are other guild features that are even more practical for day-to-day use.

The first is in-game guild chat. This helps a lot when the game world is busy and full, because you can maintain a friend's list and message people from that list while keeping up with ongoing guild chat or setting up a mission in the guild chat mode.

The second is the guild announcement system, which allows you to send a single message to everyone in your guild.

A third distinction is the ladder system. The ladder is guild-based, so in order to achieve fame and honor in the Guild Wars world, guild membership is very important.

And the fourth is the most obvious benefit: The Guild Hall. My guild members and I have been using our hall a lot lately not just for socializing and for GvG launching, but for trading. The guild hall takes us out of the hustle and bustle of a crowded city while furnishing an opportunity for a smaller-scale trade and sharing environment.

There have been questions lately about the features that may be added via the guild hall. For instance, players have asked if we will have shared guild storage or a guild-only scrimmage arena. They’ve also been curious about whether we will have guild hall upgrades or even a guild hall chess table or other mini-games. At this point it remains to be seen if we’ll launch with all the desired guild hall features in place or whether we will expand on guild hall bonuses with the free streaming updates that we intend to offer on a regular basis.

All in all, the list of guild benefits may not appear long, but what is on the list is highly significant.

Bonus Question: Will all the servers be located in the USA, or you will locate some in Europe or Asia? If so, will they be connected together, like if they were a unique server?

Answer: We will have servers at several strategic places in the world. This is the best way to provide optimal service to customers. The servers will be physically housed in different places, but it's important to note that yes, they will be interconnected and you will be able to enter an international district from anywhere in the world in order to meet up with friends. And of course the tournament will also be seamless, so that you can party with, and fight against, guilds from any corner of the globe.

Muchas gracias, GuildWars Hispano!