Fansite Friday/PostJanuaryBWE

Title: Post January BWE Special Edition

Date: 14 January 2005

Number: 28

url: http://www.guildwars.com/events/press/interviews/fansite-friday-postbwe.php

Usually the Fansite Friday Interviews involved detailed answers to three or four questions submitted from a single fansite. This week, we've gone out onto the fansites to learn the questions that fans have in the days following the 3rd monthly Beta Weekend Event. Presenting:

The Top 10 questions about Guild Wars after BWE #3

Q&A

Question 10. How did the staff feel about BWE #3?

Answer: We were really happy with this Beta Weekend Event. The general feedback has been good, and we've received a ton of excellent and useful suggestions, particularly on the newer game elements that we rolled out during the event. Were keenly anticipating BWE #4, where we have new things to show you as well as more-polished aspects of other game elements.

Question 9. Will I be able to make more than four characters in the release version of Guild Wars?

Answer: The number of characters is not 100% finalized, but if I were to take a guess, I would say that it will be four. The designers could surprise us, by all means.

Question 8. Are we still going to have an account inventory, so that I can stop spending my time muling items between characters?

Answer: Yes, thats something that we have on the design list. This feature may or may not be included in the February BWE, but it is very much on our to do list. As you know, Guild Wars is about having fun, not preparing to have fun. And muling definitely isnt high on the Fun Scale.

Question 7. Can you make it so the emotes don't show in town? The dancing is all fine and well, but it makes the chat scroll too fast that its hard to have a conversation!

Answer: Yes, were aware that we need to offer more options for chat. We want to give you many choices in how you experience the game, and well be working on that in the coming weeks.

Question 6. The questing system that was talked about in the IGN Guild Wars: The Quest Goes On article sounds great. How much of it was in place during the January Beta Weekend Event?

Answer: You got just a taste of it, a foreshadowing of it, in the January BWE. Expect to see a lot more of the new Guild Wars quest system in February, when you'll truly get a real feel for the way that you can change the world.

Question 5. I noticed that some of the characters had dances. Was my characters dance broken?

Answer: Don't worry, all the Guild Wars characters will be dancin' fools sometime soon. I imagine that most if not all of the dance emotes will be on display during the February Beta Weekend Event.

Question 4. Will there be a Beta Weekend Event in February?

Answer: Yes, there will be a BWE #4. It will begin the morning of Friday, February 4th and end at the usual 11:59 on Sunday, February 6th. As to content, well, that would be telling. ;) No, seriously, as we get closer to the date, we very much want to prepare you for what the February BWE experience will be. At this time, it's just a bit too early to say what major things we're going to present, but we will be sure to reveal all that in time for discussion and contemplation (and keen anticipation) before February 4th.

Question 3. You had a Battle Reports contest a couple of months ago. Is ArenaNet planning any more fan contests?

Answer: You bet! Watch for word of our next contest very soon; we look forward to thousands of entries!

Question 2. Is the (UI) (inventory system) (face selection) (emote list) (pathing) (mission system) (ladder) (chat) (insert other subject here) complete?

Answer: Nope. Just about everything that you've seen is subject to change, on either a major or minor scale. For instance, the inventory was new this month, and its very much under review in every possible way. We had a ton of feedback, and culling the Suggestions threads on the fan forums, we are finding lots of great ideas about how to make improvements and additions.

Chat? Well, this gives me a chance to show an example of how focused we are on making things work at the best possible level: For some reason having to do with having 13 thumbs and trying to fight off 48 Charr while talking to 117 people at once, I was having trouble moving between chat modes. I mentioned this at our post-event meeting and offered to demo to any interested parties on staff, and within two days I had visits from three design team members. They watched me use the chat and took copious notes. I'm fully confident that there will be changes to the system that will make it function better for all of us in the future.

So to the question Is such-and-such complete, the answer is Not if we can make it better! (Note: Don't worry, that doesn't mean were not going to ship in a reasonable timeframe, that just means well keep polishing until we do.)

And that, of course, leads to the inevitable No 1 Question following BWE #3:

Question 1. When will Guild Wars be released?

Answer: Ah yes, this one. Nothing new here, move along, move along. :) We anticipate a release in early 2005. When we have more information, count on us posting it on www.guildwars.com with great joy, as we do appreciate its a question to which millions would like an answer.