MikeB, also known as Fony created exactly 100 BFF reports over the past two years, and I’m proud to say I watched every single one of them from day one. He’s a great reviewer, and his latest 100th episode is dedicated to Guild Wars 2.

In his Guild Wars 2 BFF Report MikeB talks about character creation, dungeons, PvP, World vs. World, character abilities, mechanics and more. For those of you who eagerly anticipating GW2, and even those who don’t know anything about the game yet, I strongly suggest you watch the 22 minute long report covering a lot of basics and showing tons of gameplay footage.

GW2 Beta Preview by MikeB aka Fony @ Guild Wars 2 Leveling Guide

Mike Ferguson, a systems designer for Guild Wars 2 posted a wealth of information about World versus World gameplay on the official ArenaNet blog.  We knew some basic details about World vs World system in GW2: there will be three sides (server vs. server vs. server), and every match lasts for 2 weeks.

Many new information has now been revealed in this extensive post, so be sure to head over and read it. For those of you who prefer a TLDR version, Lorehound provided a list of the main points from the article, which you can read below.

1. General Info
2. Guilds
3. War Score and Winning
4. Keeps and Towers
5. Resource Camps
6. Siege Weapons
7. Orbs of Power
8. PvP, Leveling, Loot

General Info

• Three factions (server vs server vs server)
• Factions can capture battle fields objectives (keeps, towers, ect)
• These objectives range from large to small, requiring large guilds to capture or just a few players
• 4 massive maps – three “home maps” one for each faction, one central map up for grabs
• Home maps can be attacked my opposing factions
• 300 players, 100 per faction on each of the 4 maps. 1200 total players at any one time
• NPCs camps can assist factions for a limited time in defending or attacking objectives by completing certain tasks for the NPCs first

Guilds

• Individual guilds can capture battle fields objectives, but only hold one at a time for their guild
• Guilds that hold an objective can upgrade it to provide bonuses to all players in their faction

War Score and Winning

• Every objective is worth points that adds to the factions War Score. Faction with highest score after 2 weeks wins.
• The more objectives a faction holds the faster it builds its War Score.
• As the War Score increases that faction unlocks additional bonuses and rewards
• Every server is given a ranking score that is update after each match and servers are match up against other servers with similar ranking scores
• Down-time between matches is only a few mins

Keeps and Towers

• All empty keeps are defended by NPCs. If the keep is owned by a faction/guild, NPCs remain to defend it
• Once a Keep Lord is defeated, the guild/faction must hold the keep for a short period to claim it
• Keeps and towers receive resources from Resource camps and are placed in a depot where places can access them
• Individual players can claim the supplies from a keep to build siege weapons, repair or upgrade a keep
• Keeps have stationary weapons like cannons, mortars and pots of boiling oil. All require supply to use
• Two upgrade types: Structural and Personnel Upgrades. Only towers and keeps have both upgrades
• Structural upgrade strengthen defenses. NPCs perform the upgrades using the supplies available in the keep
• Personnel upgrades add more NPCs to help defend or you can level up a NPC to make them stronger

Resource Camps

• Resource camps are the smallest objective to claim
• Resource camps that are claimed periodically send supplies via caravan to keeps so they can be upgraded, repaired and to build siege weapons
• Caravans can be destroyed by enemy players
• Players can grab resources from a camp and bring them to a keep or tower, but can only carry a certain amount

Siege Weapons

• Players need to buy a blueprint from a NPC to build siege weapons
• Other players can help build siege weapons by providing additional supplies to them
• Siege weapons can be placed anywhere
• Siege weapons will require more supply than one player can carry to build. Unfinished weapons can be destroyed by enemy players
• Siege weapons include Trebuchets, Arrow Carts, Catapults, Ballistae and Siege Golems.
• Siege weapons will require supply to use even after being built

Orbs of Power

• Orbs of Power are special artifacts, 1 per map (4 total) that provide factions with a buff
• Each faction begins with 1 Orb at the start of a match
• When an Orb is captured, the capturing faction must place it on an Altar of Power within a short period of time or it will return to where it was.
• An Altar of Power is located in every keep

PvP, Leveling, Loot

• All level players can participate in World vs World matches
• Players below level 80 will be adjusted so they are roughly equivalent to their level 80 counterparts, but will not gain access to any more abilities above their level.
• Players gain XP in World vs World by killing mobs, players and capturing objectives
• Players killed in PvP drop loot just like mobs. The player killed does not lose anything
• Loot dropped will be level equivalent to the player that made the kill

GW2 World vs. World Details Revealed @ Guild Wars 2 Leveling Guide

Mike O’Brien, president and founder of ArenaNet, posted on their blog about the news we’ve all been expecting for some time now. First and foremost, the Guild Wars 2 beta will open up in February to members of the press. The rest of us mortals will have to wait until March or April, when beta events will start for more players.

We’ve all been speculating about the actual release of the game as well, but until now nothing has been confirmed. O’Brien also took the opportunity to assure us that GW2 will definitely be launched in 2012, although the exact date is yet to be revealed.

Personally I think Guild Wars 2 will be released sometime in the last quarter this year, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s in December: lots of publishers seem to choose that month for releases lately, possibly due to the holiday season and increased sales. As for beta, we don’t have any details yet, but hopefully it won’t be too hard to obtain beta keys for the game.

In either case, with the upcoming beta we’ll surely have a lot more information to post!

GW2 Beta Announced, Launch in 2012 Confirmed @ Guild Wars 2 Leveling Guide

For anyone who still thinks this may turn out a bad game, this trailer will surely convince you otherwise. For an MMORPG without a subscription even, the developers certainly have a lot to show for.

The first minute and a half of the trailer is a bit slow, but the action quickly picks up. Be sure to watch it below!

GW2 Gamescom 2011 Trailer @ Guild Wars 2 Leveling Guide

NC soft has released a new trailer for their upcoming fantasy MMO, Guild Wars 2. The trailer also features some commentary by the people involved in making the game. Apparently their goal is to keep all the good things from the original Guild Wars but also add new elements and create a next-gen MMO. Many developers have said that for a lot of games but GW2 might be the first one that actually comes close.

Guild Wars 2 Manifesto Trailer @ Guild Wars 2 Leveling Guide

The Basics

One of the priorities in developing Guild Wars 2 has been to make the simple act of moving around and interacting with the world an enjoyable experience for players. We often refer to this as introducing “joy of movement” into the game. This means being able to jump and swim freely, but it also translates directly into combat.

To reinforce the importance of movement in the game, your character’s position in combat will really matter. You’ll see a lot of attacks in Guild Wars 2 that encourage and reward tactical player movement and positioning.

To illustrate what I’m talking about, I was watching two of our game designers–Jon and Isaiah–play the other day. Jon is using his shield to deflect the fire breath of a drake, when Isaiah hits the drake from behind with a skill called Devastating Hammer, launching it into the air. The drake is sent flying over Jon’s head, who immediately turns and uses a skill called Savage Leap to impale and finish the drake right as it hits the ground. This was a very cool looking (and effective!) sequence of events that flowed very naturally from how combat in Guild Wars 2 works.

We want combat in Guild Wars 2 to really be visually appealing. We want you to be able to identify the skills being used at a glance and also have a good idea of what that skill is doing. Does a skill have an area of effect? Is it doing damage? What type of damage? Our goal is to design skills that are visually unique and explain them without overly complex skill descriptions. This has resulted in a lot of distinct and impressive skill effects in the game. Even a simple skill like fireball explodes in such a way that you can clearly see the area that they will affect. Beyond your typical fireballs and lightning bolts, you’ll see skills that create giant crushing stone hands, turn their users into massive tornadoes, and summon flocks of vicious birds of prey (a particular favorite skill of many people after they see it in action).

The Skill System

Much like in Guild Wars, the skill bar in Guild Wars 2 is limited to a set number of skills. Like a collectible card game, players have a wide variety of choices and are able to pick and choose skills to create a build that best suits their particular play style. For example, one Guild Wars 2 warrior might decide to build his character around gradual damage which causes his opponents to bleed out, while another may choose to knock his opponents down, controlling their movement with slow, large attacks. Both warriors can choose to equip the skills that matter most to them. It is also very important to the developers that the skill system is simple to use, leaving the screen as clean and unintimidating as possible. All of this provides a skill bar and skill system that’s a bit different than what you’d typically find in an MMO.

Ten-slot Skill Bar

The first five skills on the skill bar are not slotted directly by the player; instead they are determined by the player’s choice of weapon and profession. Because of this, each weapon is balanced with a fun combination of skills. For example, a warrior wielding a mace and shield would get access to strong but slow damage skills like Obliterate, as well as powerful defensive skills such as Block and Shield Bash. A warrior wielding a greatsword would have access to a lot of movement-oriented skills like Rush, and area-of-effect skills like 100 Blades. In each case, the warrior’s first five skills are determined by what he’s holding in his hands. Weapon skills also take profession into account, so a warrior wielding a sword will have different skills than a different sword-wielding profession.

To provide additional variety to the mix, most professions can have two different weapon sets equipped and can very quickly and easily swap between the sets. For example, a warrior might keep a longbow or rifle for engaging foes at a distance, and then switch to a hammer when that enemy gets close.

We’ve talked about the first five skills being determined by weapon and profession. What about the second five? These skills are all chosen by the player from a pool of skills determined by both profession and race. To slot a skill, a player simply clicks on a skill slot and it will bring up a list of skills that can be put into that slot. One of these slots is dedicated to healing skills that replenish the health of the character and his allies, while another slot is dedicated to elite skills that trigger visually spectacular and powerful effects. No matter what type of skill is involved, it’s important that we give the player a diverse set of tools to choose from so that he can create a build that he’ll enjoy playing.

For example, a human Elementalist can choose to bring Aura of Restoration, which is a buff that heals him every time he uses a skill, or he can choose to bring Glyph of Healing, which is a more straightforward heal. A warrior might take the Frenzy skill, which will fill his adrenaline gauge instantly; the shout skill Fear Me! which inflicts the weakness condition on surrounding foes; or the Banner of Courage skill, which inspires his allies and increases their melee damage.

Elite skills are designed to be infrequently-used, ultra-powerful skills that have a dramatic impact on the game. An Elementalist can call upon the power of the wind to shapeshift into a tornado that knocks enemies around and inflicts heavy damage, while a warrior might choose to harness the power of Destruction, to make all of his blows inflict area-of-effect damage.

This concludes the first Guild Wars 2 combat guide: next one will be talking about weapons, professions and races so don’t forget to stay tuned to read it!

GW2 Combat Guide: Skills @ Guild Wars 2 Leveling Guide

As you might already know, there are five playable races in Guild Wars 2: Human, Charr, Norn, Asura and Sylvari. This 4-minute trailer shows a bit of each one.

GW2 Races Trailer @ Guild Wars 2 Leveling Guide

This is the official teaser trailer in which you can get a glimpse of the story and visual splendor in GW2.

Guild Wars 2 Teaser Trailer @ Guild Wars 2 Leveling Guide

Guild Wars 2 will be set about 250 years after the events that took place in original GW. The story is not all that is new however, as Guild Wars 2 will undoubtedly attract even more subscribers with some new features:

• Players will be able to create their character from five different races: Human, Charr, Norn, Asura and Sylvari
• Maximum level cap will be increased
• NPC companion system will be added
• Addition of underwater zones
• An improved crafting system

Obviously these features are not the only new additions to this exciting game but they are the most intriguing ones.

GW2 is currently in alpha development at this time and the details about GW beta and the official release date are yet to be announced. To stay updated on the latest Guild Wars 2 developments be sure to subscribe to our RSS feeds!

About Guild Wars 2 (GW2) @ Guild Wars 2 Leveling Guide