Fansite Friday/Nor

Fansite: Guild Wars Nor (site no longer operating)

Date: 29 July 2005

Number: 53

As the sun rise, (hmm that's wrong). The sun had raised and stood on the sky for quite a few hours when my body thought: "OMG the fan site interview, I gotta�" The next minute I was almost starting on my breakfast, when: "Dough, the fan site interview, I need to get it up there on the web!" Finally I managed to place my fingers, and almost the head above my keyboard, and my fingers started to wriggle. And the result you got below: (A pretty nice interview about Guild Wars' future, with the world's greatest community relation manager, Gaile Gray.)

Q&A

Question: I understand that the new traders (rune traders, rare materials traders, etc.) make the game faster and possibly easier. However, they also destroy the P2P market in the game, and have deflated the prices of many rarer items drastically. Minor runes, who before could be sold for something like 400 gold are now worth only a quarter of this. For major and superior runes, the situation is even worse. My first major rune cost me 4000 gold. Now I can buy a similar one for 120 gold at a rune trader. Before, there were hefty bidding rounds when runes and rare materials came up for sale. Sometimes even common materials triggered violent outbursts of bidding. Now, people simply say "bah, I'll use the traders instead". I miss the old days. Can you please bring them back? Please?

Answer: There is a fine line in achieving all kinds of in-game balance. On the one hand, some players were saying "It's too hard to get the things I want or need." On the other hand, others were saying, "Items and commodities should remain worthwhile and should not be reduced in value by easy sales and purchases through a vendor."

I think the changes that we have made in terms of item availability have caused a bit of upheaval just now, because the changes are still rather new. With time, as Mike O'Brien explained recently, the purchase and sales price of items will stop the wild pendulum swings and will settle into normalcy. The system is programmed to reflect and support true "supply and demand" and yet, at times, that probably isn't the case quite yet. This is because at present we're feeling the effects of a system that has only recently been modified. In time the system should be shored up by more accurate sales and purchase prices, and those should be ones that are a more realistic representation of value in the game economy.

In the end, player-to-player trading should still be viable, and we'll endeavor to assure that it remains so.

Question: Why don't you have an Auction House? Or at least some kind of bazaar option? I find it hard to sell any of my stuff to other players. The only thing I can do is scream in the chat function what I'm selling and hope people see it. (This also creates spam for players that actually want to chat). I know there's already a trade chat function, but it's not good enough...

Answer: You are correct - it's not good enough. We need to implement more in support of player sales and trades. It's on the to-do list, and we intend to investigate a lot of options in this area. We're very aware that one of the things that keeps a game world lively, and that gives a game longevity, is the social opportunities offered by the game. And naturally, trading, selling, being the "village entrepreneur" or the "item speculator" would be part of that social setting.

Implementing an auction house, a bazaar or a other more-sophisticated means of trade is going to do a lot for Guild Wars. It will allow all of us to interact more meaningfully. If we want to trade, we'll have a good way to do it. If we want to hang out in town and chat, we can do it without being interrupted by trade chatter, and without interrupting the reasonable business efforts of traders. And if we want to form a party, we can do so smoothly and easily. Right now we're sort of "bumping into" one another - chatters and traders and party formers all mixing in a combination that can be exciting but is a little hectic, too!

The team is definitely going to find better means of making interaction more comfortable. I cannot give you a timeline on the implementation of an improved system, but I can say that such improvements are a definite objective for the not-too-distant future!

Question: Would it be possible to show more info on the Guild page? Like the professions of each member?

Answer: Yes, we really should show more there. It's not possible to display that information yet, but with planned improvements to the guild system's programming and GUI design, we should be able to see much more about our fellow guild mates in the future. I like the fact that the current system displays your on-line character and your alternates, too. With the proposed addition of guild member profession types, you could see, "Oh, Mary (also known as Molly) is here, with her Mesmer."

Some have suggested the value of having information that tells us not just who is online, but where they are in the game world. For instance, you might join and see that one guild member is 'Online and is currently in Lion's Arch' where another guild member, is 'Offline' and a third is 'Online and in the Hall of Heroes.' This would allow you to avoid interrupting a player in the midst of combat. It would also help you meet up with other members, and it might even allow you to form a rough estimate of how many guildmates might be available for a GvG match. The programming for showing "Who is here and where are they?" sounds complicated to me, but it will be great if we can add that in the future.

We were very delighted to have answered and have got the timetable for the next chapter release and maybe the next one too.

Bonus Question: (so nice :D)How many chapters, expansion packs have you thought of releasing?

Answer: The sky is the limit on new chapters. We have a great and sustainable storyline, and certainly the team is prepared to create new art assets, new professions, new missions and quests, and new game world regions in which future chapters can take place.

The next chapter of Guild Wars will be out in the first half of 2006. After that, I wouldn't be surprised to see them start appearing about every half year. So it's possible that we may actually see two chapters in 2006. That's not a promise, though, just a guess.

Thanks, GWNor and the many visitors who contributed questions, for a great chance to talk about the future of Guild Wars!