The Guild Wars 2 news

Heron Prior on Animating the Asura

2011-09-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

My name is Heron Prior, and I’m the animation team lead for Guild Wars 2. Today, I’m going to talk a bit about the asura and explain some of the thinking and processes that went into bringing this character to life. Although they posed some unique challenges, the asura ended up being one of the animation team’s favorite races to work on, and we’re excited for players to get a closer look.

The Asuran Challenge

Guild Wars has always had a very distinctive art style. The world Art Director Daniel Dociu and his team have created is fantastic and idealized, yet at its core there has always been a strong foundation in realism. As animators, part of our job is making sure the motion of the characters fits within that larger vision. It’s not always easy: game characters are required to do ludicrous, often impossible things as a matter of course, but wherever we can, we still try to retain some semblance of plausibility. With this in mind, we realized the asura were going to present some difficulties.

For the asura, these challenges broke down into two basic categories: game mechanics and presentation. Fortunately, the answers to one question tended to drive the other, and it all came together more or less organically.

Tiny Acrobats: Game Mechanics

Given their size, it would have been easy to limit asura to magic and ranged classes, and that’s probably what most other games would have done. But in GW2, race has no bearing on your choice of profession. That means the asura not only need to be able to fight, but to hold their own against even the largest melee fighters.

There were other considerations we had to take into account for gameplay reasons. All playable races have to have absolute parity—meaning they must run at the same speed, jump the same height, and strike enemies from the same range. From this, we knew that the asuran running movement would need to be mostly airborne, with their feet touching the ground for only a frame or two with each step. Likewise, asuran jumping and dodging would need to look very exaggerated. These requirements led us toward a more acrobatic, gravity-defying style, and influenced many of our decisions when it came to giving the race its personality.

Big Personality: Presentation

We had shown asura previously, in Eye of the North, but in very limited form. All of that would need to be redone, and nothing was set in stone. So the next question we needed to answer was: who were the asura, and what sort of personality did we want to build into their movements?

At the most basic level, asura fill the “little guy” archetype of fantasy gaming, but that’s pretty boring from an animation perspective. Fortunately, our writers have been very busy and very creative when it comes to the asura. From previous titles, background lore, and even novels, we know the asura are highly intellectual and often arrogant —a race of engineers, scientists, and mad geniuses, utterly convinced of their own superiority. These qualities gave the animators much more to work with, but still left several different possibilities. Luckily, all these considerations took a back seat to the asura’s one, true defining characteristic:“Just because the asura take themselves seriously doesn’t mean everyone else does.…”they look completely ridiculous.

If we hadn’t already known from the gameplay considerations, just looking at a lineup of the playable races would have told us there was no way the asura could be presented in any kind of realistic fashion. Given that this was already a break from the rest of theGuild Wars characters, my advice to the animators was just to go for it. Anyone who was going to choose an asura as his character was probably onboard already.

With the more cartoony nature of the asura in mind, one of the animators added some basic squash-and-stretch controllers. “Squash and stretch” is one of the foundational animation principles every animator learns in school, yet one we’re seldom able to use in games. In the case of the asura, it adds a looseness and fluidity to the actual shape of their bodies, which helps to accent things like jumping and landing.

Another key to the asura’s presentation happened early on, when several animators starting giving them an awkward, clumsy feel. This is a bit of sticking point with some players, but it achieves a couple of things we wanted to do. The asura aren’t just short–they have the proportions of two-year-olds. Their awkwardness emphasizes that connection, allowing us to make them endearing rather than just arrogant. Just because the asura take themselvesseriously doesn’t mean everyone else does.

In the end, the combination of gameplay requirements and presentation choices led us to a sort of acrobatic-yet-clumsy character. This seems like a contradiction at first, but I think it worked. When I look at an asura—particularly one with the larger weapons—I see a character setting events in motion that are larger than himself, or unleashing forces almost beyond his control. If he were less arrogant, maybe he’d hesitate or hold back, but that just doesn’t seem like the asuran way.

Take a look at this short video clip for some examples of how the asura move in Guild Wars 2.

Take One for a Spin

Characters like the asura are fun to animate, and I think that shows through in the work everyone did. Being able to play around with the more cartoony elements was a nice change for the animators, and allowed them to push things in ways they usually aren’t able.

Some players will undoubtedly scowl and grumble that the asura have been reduced to comic relief and the race has been ruined. Instead, we feel we’ve brought to the forefront something that was always at the core of their collective personality. These are the smack-talking creators of the “Genius-Operated Living Enchanted Manifestations” after all. So, set aside your preconceptions and take an asura for a spin. We think you’ll come to love the little guys as much as we do.

http://www.arena.net

Making the Battle of Kyhlo

2011-08-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

Lore and World Design

Hey, guys, I’m Jeff Grubb, one of the world designers here at ArenaNet. The major lore idea for PvP is that this sort of combat occurs in the Mists, a godly realm of proto-matter where the echoes of history recreate locations from the past. As the map was being developed, I tried to find a piece of lore that would fit the map. The first thing I thought of was the Battle of Kyhlo, where King Adelbern’s guild faced off against the Zealots of Shiverpeak. It was a cool little bit of lore from the original Guild Wars game, and fit neatly into what we were doing here.

Map Design

Hi, my name is Egan Hirvela, and I’m a level designer on Guild Wars 2. For several months, I have been tasked with laying out various prototype PvP maps and helping to come up with new game types for us to experiment with. My main responsibility is to make sure the PvP maps play well from a layout standpoint. Additionally, I make sure the maps aren’t too big or too small, that the distances between main objectives are spaced appropriately, and that the fighting areas accommodate the characters’ skill distances in the game. Lastly, I work closely with the system designers and environment artists to make sure the PvP maps are ready to be brought to life.

When making a new map, I usually start off with a paper map, generated from lots of discussions with other designers. Next, I’ll block out the map using our proprietary tool, focusing on base geometry and prop placement. At this stage, it’s crucial to establish where objectives are, how to get to them, and what terrain features players will need to contend with. After this, I’ll make a pass at putting down landmarks and texturing to help with navigation. Lastly, I do some rudimentary lighting to help give a sense of what the map might look and feel like after the environment artists work their magic. Throughout the entire layout process, all of us on the PvP design team test and retest the maps so that we can better improve upon how it will play. I find this method of level creation to be the optimal way of getting the best map layout possible.

Programming

I’m Habib Loew, one of the content programmers here at ArenaNet. Along with fellow programmers John Corpening and Evan Lesh, I’ve spent many months working with designers to build PvP intoGuild Wars 2. It’s an oversimplification, but if artists make the game pretty and designers make the game fun, then programmers make the game work. Guild Wars 2 is a huge, epic game, and most of our systems are geared toward running a massive world for large groups of people. PvP, by contrast, is a much smaller game, and a considerable amount of work has gone into building the smaller PvP game inside the giant PvE game. When you play PvP you can see our work everywhere, but if we’ve done our jobs correctly, you’ll never notice it. Ideally, you’ll just get to have an awesome game experience and never need to think of the hundreds of programmer hours that went into making every little thing work the way it should.

To make PvP in the game the way it is, we implemented scoring systems, created technology to allow trebuchets to work (and if you think these trebs are cool, just wait until you see what we’ve been up to in WvWvW), and built loads of custom UI and a brand new narrator system. Of course, PvP maps don’t work like any other map in the game, so we had to build a system for presenting game servers (like what you’d expect to see with a traditional FPS) and allowing games to start, end, and roll over players into the next game. There’s code that makes sure everyone is on a level playing field when each match starts, code that lets NPCs warn you when enemy trebs are firing on your position, and hundreds of little bits of code that enable designers to set up all the special actions and scenarios that only come up in PvP. All that is in addition to the work of many, many other programmers on everything from game-server infrastructure to core combat that gets shared between PvE and PvP. Ultimately, if you see or do something in-game, there’s a programmer somewhere who made it work!

Design

Once we had the core design for the map laid out, PvP designer Nick Mhley started scripting the capture points and scoring system. As we played the map, we found more and more that the trebuchets were becoming a very important part of the map, and we thought, “You know what’s cool? When you shoot the treb and blow stuff up. But you know what would be cooler? Blowing up even more stuff!”

So then Nick started scripting barrels, crates, and other small props throughout the map, which could be blown up by player skills or the trebuchet. He also set up the trebuchets and repair kits, and he scripted tons of things that happen behind the scenes.

He also spent a lot of time going back and forth with map artists, Tirzah and Egan, to tweak sections of the map to improve the flow. Together, they decided how long it should take to run certain paths and how to better draw the player’s attention to important doors, gates, and ladders. Varying degrees of ambience were also imbued in different parts of the map to ensure no two fights were exactly the same.

Writing and Voicing the PvP Announcer

Hi, Peter Fries here, from the Guild Wars 2 writing team. I was brought in late in the development process of the PvP demo map to help come up with, and then give flavor to, several dozen voiced lines for the announcer of our arena combat.

I was lucky in that the designers already had an extremely colorful character in mind to announce the combat. I was also excited to know from the start that the incomparable Jon St. John would be the one to deliver these lines.

By way of example, a generic tutorial line briefing players to capture enemy points while holding their own became: “Hold on to your points, seize theirs…do I have to draw you a picture?”

I’m Scott McGough, a design writer for Guild Wars 2. Once the PvP lines were written and scripts were generated, writers were sent to oversee recording at our partner studio in California. David Wilson and I were on hand for Jon St. John’s session in mid-July.

Jon came up with a suitably rough-and-tumble character voice almost immediately, and he totally owned the PvP announcer lines we gave him. He went very large with some of the lines (which were already extremely large to begin with), and cracked up the entire room on almost every delivery.

(this is the line I give in the example, above, as delivered by JSJ – Peter)

Effects Art

I’m Shen-Ming Spurgeon, one of the visual-effects artists on Guild Wars 2. I created the visual effects for the trebuchet projectiles and explosions, which are a huge visual focus in the map. In order to get my visual bearings, I started by meeting with the designers to bounce ideas and get their opinions. The goal was pretty simple: create a flaming projectile with a long-lasting smoke tail and a large explosion. Other than that, the sky (and performance) is the limit as these assets would be used heavily within the map.

To start the party, I created the explosion first. I did many iterations of it, each one getting bigger and better. I then added a vertical spray of dirt to let players know where the impact had hit in the distance. The explosion needed to be large, intimidating even. However, when the projectile exploded against a building, it looked all wrong. Exploding against the side of a building showed me the need for it to be omnidirectional. I removed the dirt and began to craft a more spherical explosion. This worked better as it could be used universally and was pretty sweet looking to boot. At this point, the audio department needed to separate the sound effects for both player and ambient explosions, which meant accommodating them with individual assets. This meant I could still use the explosion I worked so hard on for the ambient explosions. I was relieved to have that explosion not go unnoticed.

With the explosion out of the way, I started work on the projectile. Achieving a look for the flaming ball of fire went quickly, but it needed some serious in-game testing. Test after test, tweak after tweak, something was missing. Fog of war from the projectile was also necessary. However, this would require lots of large smoke particles spewing from the projectile. Scary. With eight of these things flying in the air, it was going to look rad…assuming the game still ran. Guess what? The game didn’t run well at all. Rather than asking for there to be fewer projectiles, I needed to find an elegant way to have the particles disappear without popping off. Also, a need for particles to be large in the distance but not obscure the area near the player was tricky business. There was a lot of back and forth between the game and our tools. After adding some intricate, geeky levels of detail, I verified it in-game and found the visuals to be well-suited and the performance uncompromised. Most effects are not this troublesome, but given the fact that this is a major set piece for PvP, we wanted to make sure the player would be seeing something super cool.

Quality Assurance

Good day to you, sirs and madams! My name is Tyler Bearce, and I’m on the QA team here at ArenaNet. Our systems and WvW QA are involved in the bulk of the testing for PvP. The major function of this role involves discovering and reporting any flaws that could negatively impact the user experience. Virtually anything can (and will) break during the development of a game, so we must always keep a constant eye out for the issues that will inevitably arise. Here are a few examples of bugs we might encounter: mundane typos in the UI text, map geometry that can trap players, missing audio, malfunctioning capture points, incorrect map markers, trebuchet failures, scoring exploits, and crashes. In addition to this, we also test the general balance and effectiveness of each profession in order to ensure that no character is too strong on a given map. A lot of the testing we do involves retesting things that we might have already tested the hour, day, week, or month before. Since everything in the game is constantly being iterated on, it’s super common to have a feature work flawlessly the day before but suddenly be completely broken when you test it again the next day. However, it’s not all bug reporting in QA-land. A big part of our job involves honing our skills in daily PvP play tests. While these matches are usually a ton of fun, their major function is to allow us to give the design team useful feedback and suggestions regarding the map, the game type, and profession balance. The fun never stops in QA!

Sound and Music

My name is Maclaine Diemer, and I’m one of the audio folks here at ArenaNet. When it came time to make the PvP map sound awesome, we decided to take a slightly different approach than we normally do with the regular maps in Guild Wars 2. Map ambience is usually handled by Drew, one of our other illustrious sound designers. He’ll put in things like wind blowing, birds chirping, waves lapping on the shore, etc., to give a subtle sense of life to each part of the world. With the PvP map, however, subtlety just wasn’t going to work. It needed to sound like a war was happening and you were right in the middle of it.

Since so much of the game play in the map is centered on the trebuchets, it only made sense that the sound of the map be focused on them as well. There are two types of trebuchets in the map, however, and that complicates things. The first are the trebuchets on the outskirts of the map that fire on their own and are inaccessible to the player. The second are the player-controllable trebuchets. The problem is, they both need to sound good, but as a player you need to be able to tell the difference between them strictly by what you’re hearing. The first and easiest way to deal with this is by setting drastically different volumes for both of them. You can hear the player trebuchets much louder and from much farther away than the distant trebuchets. So it’s clear when they are being fired. The second solution was to use similar, but not identical, sounds for each of them. The projectiles for the distant trebuchets have a far-away jet-flyover kind of sound attached to them and a muffled boom when they land. This alone takes care of 90% of the ambience needed for the map, as they are constantly sailing overhead and exploding during the match. The audio for the player trebuchet is beefed up considerably. It has a huge launch sound, and there is a fiery, missile type of sound attached to the projectile. You can also hear this sound as the projectile is coming toward you, even if you’re not looking at it. That way you have a bit of time to get the heck out of the way before it blows you up.

Once all these elements were in and some dramatic battle music was put underneath it, you suddenly feel like you’re in a real war zone and it’s time to fight.

Environment Art

Hi! I’m Tirzah Bauer! After the designers decided on a basic layout, the map was handed off to me to art it up. I kept in contact with the Environment Lead, Dave Beetlestone, as well as the PvP designers on a daily basis to make sure all the artistic details and game-play objectives were being met.

My first course of action was to take all the props (all placeable things, like houses, fences, walls, etc.) and make sure they’re using the correct architecture. We decided on using Krytan architecture, and because the map is divided up into two teams, we also wanted each half to feel a bit different from each other to help with navigation. One half uses the Krytan-farmlands style with thatch-roofed houses, and the other is more city-like with cobble streets and stone walls. There are three capture points, which had to be different from each other and have a nice landmark attached to it, so we decided on Windmill, Mansion, and Clocktower.Among other custom assets for this map was the giant Clocktower prop that we’re using as a centerpiece. The Clocktower has multiple areas that players can destroy–the two side walls with trebuchets, and all the windows with player skills–as well as the ability for players to scramble up on the roof and attack people down below with ranged attacks. When the two sides are blown off with the trebuchet, players then have easy access through holes in the roof to attack people in the capture point below (although people on the roof are easy targets for the trebuchets). I built the Clocktower prop itself, and my two fellow artists, Nate Baerwald and James Barwick, took on the task of blowing it up. There are also smaller destructible buildings, walls, crates, and wagons scattered throughout the map, all of which helps to change up the game every time it’s played.

Other artistic things that were needed for the map included the time of day (we decided on nighttime for mood and to help the fiery treb shots light up the sky), lighting to help with navigation, making sure the map was clean with regard to collisions, and lots of other accents to make the city feel awesome.

User-Interface Art

Yo. I’m Chuck Knigge, and I’m on the UI team. I did most of the UI art and helped with the design of panels and the HUD. We spent a lot of time working with designers on how we wanted to display the score, how the icons for the capture points should look, and how we wanted the map icons to look.

Playing PvP is my favorite thing to do in Guild Wars 2, and I’m looking to make it as beautiful and easy to play as possible!

Bringing It All Together

So then we put it all together and make it hawt! We play the map every day, looking for things that may be frustrating for players. Are we able to navigate the map well? Do we get lost anywhere? Are there distinct and interesting spaces around the map that play differently from one another? And then we iterate, anywhere and everywhere.

While we’re doing this, we also set up play sessions so that we can see how other people in the company respond to the map. We ask people from all disciplines to play in what we call “all calls.” Everyone from the company jumps in, and we get feedback from all departments. We then take that information and try to get it to the correct person who can fix the problem. We do this over, and over, and over, and over, iterating on any issues that arise.

And that, in a nutshell, is how the Battle of Kyhlo map came to be. Come see it at PAX or gamescom, and give us your feedback!

http://www.arena.net/blog/making-the-battle-of-kyhlo

Player Vs Player (PvP) Overview

2011-08-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

Guild Wars has a rich tradition of both pickup and competitive PvP, featuring formats played with varying degrees of organization. It has a variety of places for players to scratch their PvP itch: from Heroes' Ascent and Random Arena to Alliance Battles and GvG. I know it has taken us a while to reveal it, but rest assured, that heritage lives on in Guild Wars 2 where our goal is to create the best MMO PvP experience.

For Guild Wars 2, we wanted to organize the PvP formats more clearly and simply. For pickup play, we've created a single place where all pickup players can play. It's a server browser where "hot join" games are constantly running. We've also created a single, central place for competitive play in the form of automatic tournaments. These two play styles—pickup and competitive—share a lot of gameplay similarities, which allows players to easily transition from casual to more organized play. This is important, because both pickup and tournament play are independent of "world" choice. In other words, all Guild Wars 2 PvP players are in the same PvP games and are not segregated.

Let's take a closer look at the two PvP styles.

Hot Join PvP

"Hot join" games are the casual side of structured PvP. By nature, fighting other players is never going to be as casual as fighting PvE monsters, but this is a place to experiment with builds, learn the maps, and try out a PvP game against other players. Hot join PvP can be played from 1v1 all the way up to 10v10.

Players can browse through a list of available games, each displaying the current map, the number of players, etc. Players can search by server population or friends list. Even if a game is in progress, you can join or leave at any time. If one side loses players, the servers can auto-balance the number of players on the teams. Once the current round ends, the server loads the next map in the rotation, players can reselect teams, and the fight starts again. This kind of setup allows players to find favorite servers and build online communities by playing more than one game with the same settings and people.

Tournament Play

Tournaments are the more organized side of structured PvP. Tournament play is 5v5, but matches take place on the same maps that are used for hot join play. Tournaments will run with varying frequency, and different reward levels will allow some players to get their feet wet in the smaller tournaments while more-organized teams battle it out in the larger tournaments.

Tournaments come in the following flavors:

Pickup Tournaments: These single-elimination tournaments wait for 8 teams to join before starting. Once they start, they go through 3 rounds of eliminations, with winners receiving qualifier points.
Monthly Tournaments: For monthly tournaments, you'll need a certain amount of qualifier points to join.
Yearly Tournaments: These grand tournaments feature the winners from the monthly tournaments slugging it out for the right to call themselves the best PvP players of the year.
Player-Run Tournaments: These tournaments will be customized by players, allowing for great flexibility and unique bragging rights.

PvP Game Types

Guild Wars 2 PvP features different maps that all dramatically alter a single game type called Conquest. In the Conquest format, teams compete over a certain number of capture points. Holding a capture point and killing enemies improves your team's score. The first team to reach the score limit—or the team with the highest score when time runs out—wins the match.

Control points are strategic areas on the map that are captured by standing within them. A point must be neutralized before it can be captured, and it can only be captured if no enemies are around. The more allies you have at a point, the faster it will be neutralized and captured. Neutralizing a control point stops it from scoring points for either team and happens quite quickly. But if an enemy is standing within a control point, you must push them out or kill them before continuing with your capture.

Now that you know how Conquest works, you probably want to know how we spice it up. We vary this game type by creating important secondary objectives. These can be trebuchets, repair kits, and destructible environments, like those in the Battle of Kyhlo map. In another map, for instance, a secondary objective takes the form of a giant dragon flying overhead, blasting portions of the map and killing players who are fighting below.

Secondary objectives allow us to create an environment where you always understand the basic objectives, no matter which map you're playing, but they also let us create radically different high-level strategies through the unique mechanics of each map.

Getting Started

When a player takes a character into PvP, they are granted access to all the necessary skills, items, etc. Characters are set to the maximum level, putting everyone on an even playing field. This makes player skill more important than time invested in a particular character. When you take your character back to the PvE environment, you return to the skills and gear you had there, but the game will save your last PvP setup. You'll also be able to store templates for builds. This way, you can try out new stuff in PvP but still easily return to your familiar builds.

Each profession will load into PvP with a starter template that allows new players to have a competent build without needing to delve into detailed skill selection, item selection, or other tweaks. However, these more detailed customization options will be available for players who are more comfortable with the system.

Finish Them!

I thought it appropriate to end with a look at the downed mode in PvP. Downed mode works a bit differently in PvP—or rather, interacting with a downed player is different in PvP. While you can still kill a downed player just by attacking them, when you are near a downed enemy, you will also see a prompt: "F - Finish Them!" Hitting F at this point starts the animation for a finishing move that sends your opponent straight to their defeated state.

Putting it All Together

As with every aspect of Guild Wars 2, we wanted to create the highest-quality PvP possible. Our goal is to allow new players to try PvP with our hot join servers while making sure that the most elite PvPers will be able to find a challenge. We focused our efforts on this single, shared game type because it allows us to achieve the goal of making an easier transition from casual PvPer to hardcore PvPer. The Conquest game type lets us polish that one format to the point where players can find depth in emerging strategies, and it allows our entire player base to play together. At the end of the day, Guild Wars 2 is a social MMO, and structured PvP is as much a part of that as anything else.

Persistent hot join servers, instant unlocks, and a common game type have all been created with the ultimate goal of building a community and letting players find the people they want to play with quickly. We want you to stop preparing to have fun and start having it!

www.guildwars2.com

Underwater Combat

2011-06-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

My name is Jonathan “Chaplan” Sharp and I’m a game designer here at ArenaNet. Today we’re going to go beyond the x- and y- axis and dive into the vast underwater world of Guild Wars 2. Ready to get your feet wet?

Just Breathe

Here at ArenaNet we don’t think breathing is fun. We figure that you have to breathe every day IRL (in real life), so why should you have to work to breathe in a game—even underwater?

There’s a huge amount of underwater content in Guild Wars 2, and we want you to be able to explore it all without stressing about drowning. When you dive underwater, a breathing apparatus is instantly put all up on your face. We provide you with a default breathing apparatus, but you can find all sorts of cool gear to help keep you exploring the depths of the ocean.

When you’re underwater, you don’t need to worry about breathing until your health goes to zero. When this happens you go into a drowning state, which functions like the downed state you experience when above water except with some small ability to move. When you are drowning, you have three ways to recover:

You kill an opponent, which will cause you to rally.
An ally can revive you, just as they can above water.
You reach the surface of the water, where you will stop drowning and regain health. When your health bar fills all the way you’ll be revived.

Dive! Dive! Dive!

The transition from swimming to not-swimming is something we’ve really focused on. We want the transition to be seamless and immersive, so we’ve put a lot of effort into giving the player control over swimming. If you just need to cross a body of water to get to the other side, you can swim at the top of the water without diving below. Be careful though! While swimming on the surface you can’t fight and are fair game for any enemies lurking below the surface.

If you want to go full-on underwater, just tilt your camera down and keep moving forward—you will dive below the waves. When this happens, you will automagically switch to your underwater weapon set, your underwater skill setup, and your breathing device.

For the more adventurous among you, there are other ways to go straight into underwater combat. Imagine you’re running away from enemy mobs towards a cliff edge. They’re getting closer; arrows are flying by you, barely missing you. Spells explode behind you, singeing your clothes. Rifle and pistol bullets richochet past you, nearly taking out your legs. There’s nowhere to go…. until you jump off the cliff and land in the water far, far below. The second you hit water, you’re ready to go—you switch to underwater mode, pull out your underwater weapon, and start swimming while your pursuers yell and curse!

Swim Around a Little

The world of Tyria is a beautiful, dangerous place, with a ton of places to explore. We didn’t want the undersea zones to feel like a secondary experience compared to the land zones, so you’ll experience the full—ahem—depth ofGuild Wars 2 content underwater. In addition to a wide variety of dynamic events, most dungeons have underwater content, and your personal story will also occasionally take you under the sea.

You’ll discover spectacular sights, diverse challenges, and powerful enemies while underwater in Guild Wars 2. In a recent blog post Ree Soesbee described one of the many races you’ll encounter under the sea, the totally evil krait, but we’ve got a lot more up our proverbial wetsuit sleeves. Although the shark from Jaws was unable to make an appearance (conflicting schedules due to his current projects), we’ve enlisted a myriad of equally fearsome underwater dwellers, ill-tempered fish, and fantastic sea monsters to fill out our underwater world. From thundershrimp to icewater barracudas, we’ve got you covered for underwater mobs—which means you need to be able to fight.

Fighting in a 3D Space

From the beginning, we knew that if we wanted to do underwater right we couldn’t just graft our land-based combat directly into the undersea realm.

Above ground, you’re usually fighting an enemy on the same plane, even if they’re above you in a building or below you in a pit. Fighting underwater challenges the player by introducing the z-axis and throwing danger at them from any angle, but it also opens up a lot of tactical opportunities for players as well. Area of effect skills can be used to hit foes on top of one another. You can use skills to force enemies up to the surface, or drag them down to the ocean floor. We really wanted underwater skills to take advantage of the 3D space!

Weapons That Work While Wet

Time to talk about those underwater weapons I mentioned earlier. We really wanted fighting underwater to be a new experience for the player, so we created a bunch of new weapons that you use ONLY underwater. This opens up a whole new spectrum of skills and tactics that you can use underwater and really distinguishes the feel and pacing of underwater combat from land combat.

Let’s take a look at the pointy underwater weapons:

Spear: Close-quarters melee weapon

Used by:

Warrior
Necro
Ranger
Thief
Guardian

Trident: Long-range magical weapon

Used by:

Necro
Guardian
Elementalist

Harpoon gun: Long-range mechanical weapon

Used by:

Engineer
Warrior
Ranger
Thief

You’ve Got Underwater Skills

Of course, there is more to your skill bar in Guild Wars 2 than just your weapon skills. That’s why, we whenever you dive beneath the surface, the skills in slots 6 through 10 automatically change to underwater skills. As you might imagine, not all your land-based utility, heal, and elite skills work underwater, so we’ve come up with some really cool underwater equivalents of these skills.

We’re not kidding when we say that the underwater experience in Guild Wars 2 is going to be a vital, important part of the game. You can’t experience everything the game has to offer without getting wet, so grab a breathing device and a trident and hit the beach! Life is much better down where it’s wetter, under the sea.

By Jonathan Sharp http://www.arena.net/blog/jonathan-sharp-talks-underwater-combat

Guild Wars 2 - Top 10 Reasons to be Interested

2011-06-22T14:42:00.000-07:00

Elementalist

2011-06-22T12:03:00.000-07:00

"Fire, Air, Earth, and Water. I can deal death with any of them."

The elementalist channels natural forces of destruction, making fire, air, earth, and water do her bidding. What the elementalist lacks in physical toughness, she makes up for in her ability to inflict massive damage in a single attack, dropping foes from a distance before they can become a threat. Yet, despite her incredible offensive potential, versatility is what makes the elementalist truly formidable.

Rather than swap weapons to adjust to new situations, the multi-faceted elementalist quickly adapts to new threats by attuning to different elements as needed. When the elementalist attunes to any of the four elements, she receives intrinsic bonuses that continually empower her.

With FIRE attunement, the elementalist can inflict scorching damage on multiple enemies by turning the ground to fire or raining down molten rock from the skies. Why kill just one enemy when you can burn them all? Just by attuning to fire, the elementalist automatically causes flame damage to any foe foolish enough to touch her.

When the elementalist attunes to AIR, she can harness wind and lightning to target specific foes with focused, high-damage attacks. Dazzling bolts of lightning rip from the elementalist's fingertips, and brilliant flashes of light blind her enemies. When an elementalist attunes to air, nearby enemies are continuously pelted with lightning strikes.

WATER attunement forgoes the raw damage of air and fire, in favor of controlling an opponent's movement. By creating slippery ice or freezing foes solid, water attunement ensures that the battle is always fought on the elementalist's terms. Nearby allies receive continuous healing from an elementalist who is attuned to water.

In the most dangerous situations, the elementalist relies on the powerful defense of EARTH attunement. An earth elementalist uses the ground under her feet to defend herself and her allies, turning flesh to stone, destabilizing foes with seismic shocks, and destroying threats with volcanic eruptions. Earth attunement automatically confers magical protection to the elementalist.

Elementalists have a number of special spell types:

Glyphs—These arcane spells enhance or modify the natural power of the elementalist. She uses the Glyph of Elemental Power to increase the damage, range, and duration of her spells.
Signets—Signets provide an ongoing benefit to the elementalist, but can also be activated for a greater effect. An elementalist equipped with the Signet of Earth has increased damage resistance, but activating the Signet sends out a wave of stone, stunning nearby enemies.
Conjure Spells—The elementalist uses Conjure spells to summon useful items and potent weapons that she or other party members can use. For instance, she uses Conjure Flame to create a fiery rock to hurl at the enemy.
Area Spells—Using Area spells, the elementalist creates hazards and mayhem all over the field of battle. The elementalist fires lava arrows in a cone-shaped blast or creates walls of fire that scorch any enemies passing through.

Mechanics

Attunements

The elementalist has four elemental attunements that they can tap into. These attunements are represented by four skills that are located on the bar above their normal skills. When an elementalist switches attunements, the first five skills on their bar will change. These five skills are based on the elementalist's attunement and their current weapon, so that a fire-attuned elementalist will have different skills when he wields a staff than when he wields a scepter or focus. In addition to changing the elementalist's skills, attunements also work like a normal skill and provide an ongoing effect.

Weapons

Scepter (Main Hand) — Scepter skills specialize in close range combat.

Dagger (Main Hand) — Main hand daggers are fast and focus on medium range spells.

Staff (Two Handed) — Staves are slow casting long range weapons.

Dagger (Off Hand) — Off hand daggers specialize in powerful medium range abilities.

Focus (Off Hand) — Skills on a focus are powerful close range abilities.

Screenshots

Warrior

2011-06-22T12:02:00.002-07:00

"Axe or Mace? Rifle or Greatsword? You know, they're all good."

The warrior is a master of weapons who relies on speed, strength, toughness, and heavy armor to survive in battle. A warrior can shrug off blow after blow to stay in the fight, all the while building up adrenaline to fuel his offense.

Adrenaline makes the warrior more powerful, increasing his damage output with every attack while powering up his burst skill. Each weapon set has a single designated burst skill which a warrior can trigger by spending all his built-up adrenaline to unleash a powerful attack. The warrior can use his burst skill at any time, but the more adrenaline stages he has filled, the more devastating his attack will be. Some burst skills apply more and varying conditions while others simply do more damage.

Each weapon serves a different role, allowing the warrior to customize his play style. Warriors can compliment main hand weapons like swords and maces with a shield, warhorn or dual wielded weapon, but their role is still mostly defined by the main or two-handed weapon.

A SWORD warrior is quick and mobile; he bleeds his enemies as he bounces between them with a Savage Leap.

An AXE warrior quickly builds up his adrenaline and can deliver powerful spike attacks.

A HAMMER warrior pounds his foes and the ground with area attacks that stagger groups of enemies.

A warrior with a MACE disrupts his enemies with powerful stunning attacks, and hits them where it hurts leaving them susceptible to further blows.

A warrior with a GREATSWORD uses his momentum to deliver sweeping area effect damage attacks while gliding around the battlefield.

Warriors with a LONGBOW light their arrows on fire to inflict area-of-effect damage.

The RIFLE is a single-target ranged weapon that a warrior can use to pull monsters or finish off a fleeing foe.

Warriors have a number of special skill types:

Stances—These are toggle skills that let you turn on an enhancement at the cost of energy regeneration. For example, a warrior could hit Berserker's Stance which drains his energy, but gives him adrenaline regeneration. You can easily toggle off Berserker's Stance and send the skill into recharge.
Chains—A set of three skills that share a single skill slot, chains go off in sequence if you are hitting your target. For example, the sword chain skills Sever Artery, Gash, and Final Thrust are all on the same key, so rather than making a sword warrior spend three slots, they stack to fill only one slot. Chains effectively give a warrior two extra weapon skills on a weapon set.
Banners—The warrior calls down banners to buff his allies with attack power. A banner can be picked up and carried around to move the buff, or it can be planted in an area to convey the buff, allowing the warrior to continue fighting. One example is Banner of Courage, which increases the melee damage of allies within its range.
Shouts—Shouts are skills that affect a large area and give bonuses to allies or debuff enemies. A warrior could use the shout On My Mark to lower an enemy's armor and call a target out to allied party members.
Charge Skills—Some skills can be held down to power them up for more impressive attacks. A warrior with a mace can wind up the powerful skill Obliterate and release it at four different power levels to do increasing amounts of damage.

Mechanics

Weapons

A warrior can use nine different weapons. He can combine any of the nine weapons available to him in 19 different ways. The warrior weapons are:

Main Hand: Sword, Axe, Mace

Offhand: Shield, Warhorn, Sword, Axe, Mace

Two-Handed: Greatsword, Hammer, Longbow, Rifle

A warrior can easily switch between his two active weapon sets in combat as needed, but swapping weapons triggers a cool-down that prevents warriors from constantly flip-flopping between weapons. However, a warrior can equip the Weapon Master trait to circumvent this cool down, and opt for a more wild back-and-forth combat style with both weapon sets. Outside of combat, the warrior can reconfigure his weapon sets before entering an encounter.

Adrenaline

Warriors start a fight without adrenaline, and then build one strike of adrenaline with every attack they make. Warriors have three stages of adrenaline that take increasing amounts of strikes to fill - or they can release their stored adrenaline with a burst skill. Each stage of adrenaline also gives the warrior a direct passive damage bonus to every attack.

Burst Skills

Burst skills spend all of a warrior's adrenaline. Each weapon has one burst skill that improves at each stage of adrenaline. This improvement can be anything from doing more damage, adding additional conditions, increasing condition duration, or increased skill duration.

Screenshots

Ranger

2011-06-22T12:02:00.000-07:00

"Good dog! Hold the enemy down while I shoot them! You get a biscuit!"

The ranger is a jack-of-all-trades and a master of them all as well, relying on his keen eye, steady hand, or the power of nature itself. A master of ranged combat, the ranger is capable of striking unwitting foes from a distance with his bow. With a stable of pets at his command, a ranger can adapt to his opponents' strengths and weaknesses.

A ranger is accompanied by his pet, a loyal animal companion. Rangers charm pets and then bond with them. A ranger can have up to three pets at his call, but generally speaking, only one pet can be active at any time. Pets' base health, armor, and damage are based on the level of the player that owns them.

Pets are charmed by interacting with juvenile versions of the species you want to charm. There are a variety of Tyrian species that can be charmed, including bears, moas, devourers, and sharks. As you adventure with a pet, it evolves to become more unique and eventually allows you to give it abilities that compliment your tactics.

Rather than manage a unique resource in combat, a ranger will manage his pet, assigning them a behavior from aggressive to passive. A ranger can also manage his pet by giving commands such as "attack," "heel," and "stay."

Rangers have a number of special skill types:

Traps--Traps are utility skills that can be placed at a ranger's current location. When an enemy enters a trap, it is triggered. For example, Spike Trap will cripple and bleed enemies that pass through it. A trap can remain active as long as the ranger chooses to remain close to it. A ranger can only have one of each trap type out at any given time.

Spirits--A spirit skill summons a nature spirit that influences the area around it. For example, Sun Spirit applies additional fire damage to allied attacks inside its influence. A spirit stays out for a short period of time and goes away if the ranger wanders too far away from it. Spirits can be attacked by enemies and removed from the battle. A ranger can only have one of each type of spirit out at any given time.

Mechanics

Weapons

A ranger is mostly a master of ranged weapons, however, he can use sword or greatsword in melee combat. The ranger weapons are:

Main Hand: Sword, Axe

Off Hand: Axe, Dagger, Torch, Warhorn

Two-Handed: Greatsword, Longbow, Shortbow

Pets

A ranger has three active pet slots. Outside of combat, or through the use of utility skills, the ranger can swap their active pet. There are 12 different types of pets, including some terrestrial (spiders), some amphibious (lizards), and some aquatic (sharks). Within each type there are subtypes that can influence pets' abilities. For example, a polar bear might have an Icy Roar, while a brown bear might have a Fearsome Roar. A ranger's pet gets its level from its master, which determines their basic attack, armor, and health.

Pet Evolution

Pets have customization options. The first of these has to do with a pet's evolution level. Pets evolve up to 20 evolution levels. Each pet type receives automatic bonuses at different evolution levels. For bears, these bonuses might be increased health or increased damage. Pets gain evolution points when the player gains XP while the pet is active. At certain evolution levels, pets will unlock ability slots (up to 4 total). Ability slots can be filled from a list of active pet abilities based on pet type.

Pet Controls

In addition to managing his skills, a ranger will be able to manage his pet with limited commands and modes. This will be an interface element for the ranger class. Here are some examples:

Modes--Ongoing behavioral settings the ranger can toggle.

Aggressive--Attack what I am attacking.

Defensive--Attack enemies that attack me.

Passive--Don't attack.

Commands--Specific, direct commands that execute right away.

Attack--Attack my target.

Heel--Come to me.

Stay--Do not move.

Screenshots

Necromancer

2011-06-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

"The great thing about minions is that they never last long enough to work up a horrid stench!"

A necromancer is a practitioner of the dark arts who summons the dead, wields the power of lost souls, and literally sucks the lifeblood of the enemy. A necromancer feeds on life force, which he can use to cheat death or bring allies back from the brink.

A necromancer feeds on death and decay. Life force is the energy that a necromancer uses to extend his own life. Using specific skills, a necromancer builds up life force by attacking and killing enemies. Rather than going into a downed state when he runs out of health, a necromancer automatically activates the Death Shroud ability. A necromancer can continue fighting in the ghostly Death Shroud form until he either runs out of life force or he gets a kill, rallying back into his own corpse.

Necromancers have a unique set of special skills:

Wells—Wells are persistent spells that allow a necromancer to control the area around him. Created at the necromancer's location, wells affect targets within the skill's range. Well of Blood, for example, applies a regeneration boon to all allies within it. A necromancer can only have one well skill active at any time.

Minions—The necromancer summons undead minions to attack foes and do his bidding. Every minion-summoning spell has an associated secondary spell that appears after the minion has been summoned. This secondary spell destroys the minion while providing a powerful effect to the necromancer. For example, necromancers have a healing skill called Summon Blood Fiend that creates a minion that heals its master while it attacks. After the minion has been summoned, the Summon Blood Fiend skill is replaced by the skill Taste of Death, which allows a necromancer to destroy the minion to gain a larger amount of health.

Marks—Necromancers can also place marks--ground-targeted spells with a variety of potent effects. For instance, Mark of Blood damages enemies while placing a regeneration boon on nearby allies. Marks will trigger after a set period of time, but a necromancer can always trigger their marks on command by hitting the skill again.

Fear—Necromancers use a condition not available to any other profession: fear. A removable condition, fear makes an enemy flee directly away from a necromancer for a short period of time. For example, a necromancer can use Doom to instill fear in a single target.

Mechanics

Weapons

When outfitting himself for combat, the necromancer can choose from the following weapons. The necromancer weapons are:

Main Hand: Axe, Dagger, Scepter

Off Hand: Dagger, Focus, Warhorn

Two-Handed: Staff

Life Force

Life force is a special type of energy used by a necromancer. Once he reaches a certain life force threshold, a necromancer can activate Death Shroud (see below), entering a spirit form and leaving his body behind. Each of his weapon sets have skills that give a necromancer life force, and he gains an even larger amount of life force for kills that happen nearby. Finally, there are utility skills that build up life force, like Ghost Armor, a skill that improves a necromancer's armor and adds life force every time he takes damage.

Death Shroud

Death Shroud is a special ability--usable by a necromancer at any time--that utilizes his life force as a secondary health bar. Instead of entering a downed state when his health is reduced to zero, a necromancer automatically activates the Death Shroud ability and assumes a spectral form. In Death Shroud, a necromancer has a number of special skills. For example, a necromancer can summon a shadow fiend, a special minion unique to this form. With the ability to tap into Death Shroud, necromancers are certainly one of the most durable professions in Guild Wars 2.

Screenshots

Guardian

2011-06-22T12:00:00.001-07:00

"I'll guard you. Let them come through ME first!"

The guardian is a devoted fighter who calls upon powerful virtues to smite enemies and protect allies. As dangerous with a staff as he is with a mighty two-handed hammer, a true guardian is a master tactician who knows when to sacrifice his own defenses to empower his allies to achieve victory.

Each guardian is supported by passive benefits, but he can relinquish those benefits, passing his powers on to his allies. This ability makes the guardian an excellent supportive fighter whether they are leading an assault or defending your party's flanks.

Guardians have developed three virtues that empower them in combat. By wielding Justice, the guardian's attacks can burn his enemies. With Courage, the guardian can shrug off even a mighty blow. Through Resolve, the guardian passively regenerates health, allowing him to wade into the most dangerous situation and come out alive.

Guardians also have a number of special skill types:

Spirit Weapons—The guardian can summon spirit weapons to fight at his side for a limited time. Spirit weapons cannot be attacked by enemies and can be commanded to inflict a powerful attack before disappearing. For example, Hammer of Wisdom can be summoned to fight alongside a guardian, then commanded to knock down an enemy and vanish.

Symbols—The guardian places symbols on the ground, where they inflict damage to enemies or deliver a benefit to allies. Symbols persist for a few seconds and then go away. For instance, Symbol of Faith is a hammer attack that leaves a transient symbol on the ground, giving allies the Vigor boon.

Wards—A ward is a marked area on the ground that stops enemies from passing through while allowing allies to move freely. For example, a staff-wielding guardian can create a Line of Warding in front of him that keeps enemies from reaching the allies behind him.

Aegis—Guardians are adept in the use of Aegis, a removable boon that blocks the next attack. Guardians have access to this boon through the virtue of Courage.

Mechanics

Weapons

The guardian can choose from a mixture of melee and magical weapons. The guardian weapons are:

Main Hand: Mace, Scepter, Sword

Off Hand: Focus, Shield, Torch

Two-Handed: Greatsword, Hammer, Staff

Virtues

Guardians have three special virtue abilities--Justice, Courage, and Resolve--that grant them passive benefits in battle. They can choose to activate a virtue, extending a powerful version of these benefits to their allies, but disabling their own passive ability until the activated virtue has finished recharging. The guardian virtues are:

Justice—Every fifth attack causes burning. Use this skill to make nearby allies' next attacks cause burning. (This disables your Justice for 30 seconds.)

Courage—Every 30 seconds you are granted Aegis, blocking the next attack. Use this skill to apply Aegis to all nearby allies. (This disables your Courage for 120 seconds.)

Resolve—You regenerate health. Use this skill to remove conditions and apply Regeneration to all nearby allies. (This disables your Resolve for 120 seconds.)

Screenshots

Thief

2011-06-22T11:59:00.000-07:00

"I'm sorry, did this belong to you?"

A master of stealth and surprise, the thief is deadly in single combat—particularly when catching enemies off guard. Thieves compensate for their relatively low armor and health by being quick and evasive. They can move through the shadows, vanish into thin air, or steal items from their opponents and use them as weapons. Enemies should watch their backs, or the thief will watch it for them.

While other professions rely on recharge rate for their weapon skills in combat, thieves rely on Initiative. Thieves have ten points of Initiative to use, and they gain back one point every second. Weapon skills cost Initiative points, but they have no recharge time, so thieves can use them back-to-back. This allows the thief to keep their options open at all times or unleash a rapid flurry of powerful attacks.

Thieves make use of a special skill called Steal, which generates a useful environmental weapon in the thieves' hands based on the monster or player that they stole from. For example, when stealing from a moa bird, a thief might get a handful of feathers that they can throw to blind enemies around them.

When using a main hand and off-hand weapon combination, the thief differs from other professions. Their first two skills come from the main hand weapon, while the last two skills come from the off-hand weapon. The final skill, called their Dual Skill, is determined by both weapons. For example, a thief with two daggers will have Leaping Death Blossom as their Dual Skill, but a thief with a dagger and a pistol will have Shadow Shot as their Dual Skill.

Thieves have a number of special skill types:

Stealth—Thieves can disappear into the shadows. This allows them to become invisible to enemy players and to ignore aggro. When in Stealth mode, the thief can still be damaged, which temporarily reveals them. When a thief is hidden, attacking will break the deception.

Shadow Stepping—Thieves can get in and out of battle quickly by using a technique called Shadow Stepping. This skill allows them to disappear from one location and then instantly appear at a different location by traveling through the shadows.

Traps—Thieves use traps to ambush unsuspecting enemies and control areas. For example, Shadow Trap is a trap that puts the thief into Stealth and Shadow Steps them back to the trap's location.

Mechanics

Weapons

The thief has a mixture of melee and ranged weapons. The thief weapons are:

Main Hand: Sword, Dagger, and Pistol
Off Hand: Dagger and Pistol
Two-Handed: Shortbow

Initiative

Initiative is the thief's resource mechanic. A thief has ten points of Initiative that refill at a rate of one point per second both in and out of combat. Skill 1 on their bar is always free, but the other thief weapon skills all cost Initiative instead of having recharge. Thief Heal, Utility, and Elite skills do not cost Initiative and still have a recharge cost.

Stealing

Above their skill bar, all thieves have a special skill called Steal that can be used on enemies. It does not actually steal a real item from an opponent, but rather generates an appropriate environmental weapon based on the target. Stealing does not break stealth, and cannot be used often. When a thief steals, it can open up a range of support and control options that are less prominent in his basic skills.

Dual Skills

Dual Skills are special skills that thieves acquire in slot 3 of their weapon bar that are based on both weapons they are wielding. A dual skill is determined by both main hand and offhand weapons, and can vary depending on the order. For example, a thief wielding a pistol main hand with dagger offhand (Shadow Strike) will have a different dual skill than a thief wielding a dagger main hand and pistol offhand (Shadow Shot). The shortbow is the one exception to this rule; it does not have a dual skill.

Stealth

Stealth has a limited duration and can be broken in various ways. Most stealth is lost when a player attacks through it. Some stealth breaks when the player moves. While in stealth, a player can still take damage and will temporarily appear in the world when they do.

Shadow Stepping

Shadow Stepping is a teleport mechanic used by the thief profession to get in and out of battle. A thief may only shadow step where normal movement is possible and may not use it to teleport through a gate or other blocking area.

Screenshots

Human

2011-06-22T06:46:00.000-07:00

"...we fight for our homes, our Gods, and our Queen. Nothing can break our spirit."

The humans of Tyria are an embattled race. Over the past three hundred years, they have lost much of their territory. Old enemies and new races threaten traditional human lands on all sides. Yet the human race survives, defending their remaining lands and maintaining the human spirit as they have for centuries. Their greatest city, Divinity's Reach, shines as a beacon of hope for the people of Kryta and beyond--even those dwelling deep within charr territory. The human legends are indelibly imprinted on the souls of all the races of Tyria, be they friend or foe.

This is their story.

History

The humans of Tyria originally came to this part of the world from the south. They soon spread throughout the kingdoms of Orr, Kryta, and Ascalon, displacing other peoples, including the centaurs and charr, in the process. Internal squabbles and wars weakened the human nations, so that they were in no shape to defend themselves when the charr invaded Ascalon.

Ascalon fell before the charr magic of the Searing. Rather than surrender to the charr, King Adelbern invoked the Foefire, a powerful curse that transformed his people into ever-vigilant ghosts. Orr vanished beneath the sea, only to rise years later as a kingdom of the undead ruled by the Elder Dragon Zhaitan. Lion's Arch was inundated and then reborn as a city of many races. Kryta plunged into civil war, and only survived due to the actions of its valiant heroes.

Yet through it all, humanity persevered, protecting the best qualities of its people and history. Although surrounded by challenges and confronted by threats within and without, the race survives and thrives in a world that becomes more deadly by the day.

Divinity's Reach

Humanity's greatest city is Divinity's Reach, founded in the wake of the flooding of Lion's Arch. Built upon ancient Krytan tombs and situated on a bluff, the city provides a strong bastion against a dangerous world. Survivors of the other human nations and refugees from distant lands have poured into Divinity's Reach, swearing fealty to the crown and creating a proud, beautiful city.

The city is laid out like a great wheel with six spokes. These spokes are elevated high roads which reach from the outer walls to the Central Plaza at the city's hub. It is here that a great orrery spins beneath a massive dome of copper and glass, here that the ministers squabble, and here that Queen Jennah rules with a confident hand.

Threats Without and Within

From Divinity's Reach, the long reach of human power stretches out across the surrounding hills and farms, offering protection to the farmers and townsfolk of Kryta. These people are under constant siege from centaurs that have come down from the mountains. The powerful Modniir centaurs have established dominance over the weaker Tamini and Harathi breeds and now urge them to attack human enclaves across Kryta. These raids are major incursions that sometimes reach the gates of Divinity's Reach itself.

Not all enemies are inhuman. Bandit gangs have sprung up in areas beyond the reach of the law, and now large, organized groups of them prey on the local citizenry. The Seraph are entrusted with protecting the people, but they are stretched thin by the sheer number of their opponents.

As if matters were not dire enough, dissension flourishes within the walls of Kryta itself. Queen Jennah is beloved by her people, but the nobility often chafes at her egalitarian rule and the truce that she has forged with the legions of the charr. The Chamber of Ministers is a hotbed of intrigue and plotting, much of it centering on Legate Minister Caudecus the Wise, who many see as a rival of the Queen herself.

The Heritage of the Humans

With the defeat of Abaddon, the human gods withdrew from Tyria. They did not abandon their worshippers, but rather pulled back from directly interfering in their daily lives. Much like parents teaching a child to walk, they let humanity stumble forward and learn to pick itself up when it fell.

The humans of Divinity's Reach realize this and know that the gods expect them to stand on their own. The names of the Six Gods (now called the Six Human Gods by other races) are on their worshippers' lips, and there are still shrines and priests of the faith. Humans do not feel abandoned by their gods; they feel tested by them. As a people they refuse to fall.

Humanity's long history makes other races think of them as hidebound, old-fashioned, and conservative, but they are not afraid of new things. With the rise of other major races, they have sought to adapt and compete with them. They are interested in asura gate technology and charr weaponry. Humans are a people of tinkerers and craftsmen; inventors such as Uzolan the Artist help refine and expand upon their technical knowledge.

Humanity's greatest heritage is heroism. Even the youngest sylvari knows about the great figures of Tyrian legend. It is in their footsteps that the other races must follow.

Blog

Read the ArenaNet Blog for more information about humans!

Character Art – Designing Humans

Humanity in Guild Wars 2

Games within the Game

VO and Dialogue in GW2

The Alphabets of Guild Wars

The Fashion of Guild Wars 2

Asura

2011-06-22T06:45:00.001-07:00

"Brain, not brawn, will change the world."

They may be short in stature, but this subterranean race of magical inventors are intellectual giants. These incredibly intelligent beings use their knowledge and skill with magic and crafting to assert their natural dominance. In the world of the asura, it is not the strong who survive, but the clever. Other races believe they should rule by virtue of their power and strength, but they delude themselves. All will serve the asura - in due time.

Driven to the surface of Tyria by minions of Primordus, the Fire Dragon, the asura have created a complex new society based in vast Maguuma Jungle metropolises like the awe-inspiring Rata Sum. Asura life is based around the study of the Eternal Alchemy, an all-encompassing metaphysical theory that they analyze in their great research institutions - the College of Statics, Dynamics, and Synergetics.

Asura use their magical skill to create servitor golems, asura gates, blasting rods, and other magnificent inventions. Their culture is organized, but highly flexible--these small geniuses often gather in specialized work groups called "krewes" to accomplish greater tasks. Asura establish their reputations with their peers by building a portfolio of successful projects or by becoming the foremost expert on some arcane field of study. They constantly seek to prove their own intellectual superiority, and by extension the superiority of the asura race.

Who are more fit to rule Tyria than the asura? The more primitive, warlike races can be useful when an asura needs something heavy lifted, but they mistakenly believe that brute force or resiliency entitles them to power. How mistaken they are. As any asura will explain, mastery of the Eternal Alchemy equals mastery of Tyria. Who can argue with such logic?

Screenshots

Charr

2011-06-22T06:44:00.001-07:00

"With the roar of engines and the thunder of guns, we rip each day from life's teeth."

The feline charr of Tyria are a victorious race challenged by their own success. They have survived defeat, oppression, and civil war. They have returned, reconquered, and rebuilt their original homes. Their mighty fortress, the Black Citadel, dominates the surrounding ruins of the human city of Rin, and their non-magical technology is the mightiest in the land. Yet despite their success, they are challenged by divisions among their people, the power of the Elder Dragons, and the ghosts of their own victories.

This, then, is their story.

History

The charr made the open lands east of the Shiverpeaks their home for many long years before the arrival of the humans. After they were driven from Ascalon, they engaged for centuries in a war with the humans, only to have their efforts stymied by the power of the human gods and technology. However, they rallied and eventually invaded the human nations. Distant Kryta resisted their incursions, but both Orr and Ascalon ultimately chose self-destruction over defeat by the charr.

The charr paid for their success dearly; the old High Legions (Ash, Blood, and Iron) were put under the yoke of the Flame Legion, who researched forbidden magics and worshipped dark, false gods. The Flame Legion also subordinated the charr females, who had previously been equals to the males. As the war lengthened, each success was attributed to the inherent rightness of the Flame Legion's crusade, while each failure was used as an excuse for others to sacrifice for the good of the Flame Legion shamans.

In the end, the charr did take Ascalon, but its maddened human king chose to invoke his own dark magic, the Foefire, which stripped the souls of his people from their bodies and left them to eternally guard their land as ghosts. The Flame Legion won the battle, but their victory condemned the charr to an eternal insurrection.

The charr females defied the rule of the Flame Legion, gathering with them rebellious factions from the other charr legions. The Iron, Blood, and Ash Legions joined the uprising after the insurgents' leader, Kalla Scorchrazor, won the support of the Iron Legion Imperator. Together, they cast down the Flame Legion shamans and regained control of the fate of the charr race. The Iron Legion, for its part, took control of Ascalon.

Since that time, the charr have had to fight on multiple fronts. An eternal and undead foe struggles to regain Ascalon. The Flame Legion is bowed, but not broken; it plots to retake control. The humans continue to fight in the distant fortress of Ebonhawke. And recently, the Elder Dragon Kralkatorrik scarred Ascalon with the great Dragonbrand. Yet despite the challenges, the charr remain a potent force east of the Shiverpeaks and masters of Ascalon.

The Black Citadel

Upon the overthrow of the Flame Legion, the Iron Legion was granted control of the conquered kingdom of Ascalon by the other victorious legions. They built their main fortress-city, the Black Citadel, on the human ruins of Rin. The wreckage of that destroyed city can still be seen among the foundations of the citadel. While the Iron Legion is officially in charge, Blood and Ash Legions both have a major presence in the city.

As the Iron Legion is the most technologically skilled of the charr legions, its city is a vast foundry and center of industry. The Black Citadel is dominated by the huge Imperator's Core, a great spherical structure that houses the headquarters of the three legions, the offices of the tribunes, and the war council, where the legions meet to plan strategy. The Iron Legion Imperator, Smodur the Unflinching, oversees all of this and coordinates the charr in Ascalon with a veteran's eye.

A Target-Rich Environment

The charr face many challenges. Although they control Ascalon, that control is neither as sure nor as strong as they would like. The Foefire, summoned by the last human King of Ascalon, infested the former human territories with ghosts who still see the charr as invaders to be driven from the land.

The Flame Legion has survived, but they have withdrawn to their northern bases. From there, they continue their assault on the legions, seeking to undermine the leadership and to regain control of the charr.

Yet the greatest and most immediate danger has been brought by the Elder Dragon Kralkatorrik. Once freed from its deep tomb, the dragon flew south, its mere presence scouring and transforming the land beneath it. That blasted landscape bisects Eastern Ascalon and serves as a battleground for the dragon minions' continual war with the charr. Kralkatorrik's passing has had another effect: ogres have come out the Blazeridge Mountains to the east and seek to settle their herds in these new lands.

Humans also survive, making their stand in Ebonhawke, where Krytan support and asura gates have kept the city from falling to a centuries-long siege. Now confronted by the power of an Elder Dragon, the three legions have chosen to negotiate with humans rather than battle them. The negotiations have resulted in a tentative truce, and humans are now permitted in the Black Citadel itself. Still, it will take generations before the long wars are forgotten.

The Triumph of the Charr

Despite all the challenges facing the charr, they have prospered in Ascalon. The great shards of the Searing are now surrounded by grass and young trees; the rolling hills of the former kingdom, once blasted to twisted wreckage by war, are now covered with grass and used to raise herds of meat animals to feed the legions. The ironclad encampments of the legions dot the landscape.

Due to their long history of conflicts, the charr are the most militarily and technologically advanced race in Tyria. Their rifles and pistols are among the most finely made, and their forging technology is superior to that of even the ancient and legendary dwarves. Individual artisans may produce better weapons, but on a mass production scale, no other group holds a candle to the mighty charr arsenals. However, not all of their advancements involve weapons--they also make some of the finest clockwork and spring-driven devices in Tyria.

With the rigid foundation of their warbands and the ruthless efficiency of their leadership, the charr face their opponents as they have always faced them: united in purpose. They have triumphed over internal dissension and external threat, have retaken their ancestral lands, and now face the world as one of the strongest and most energized races in Tyria.

Blog

Read the ArenaNet Blog for more information about the charr!

Norn

2011-06-22T06:42:00.000-07:00

"If you are bold enough, your legend will live forever."

The norn are a race of valiant, shape-changing barbarians. Boisterous, strong-willed, and passionate, the norn are an independent people that swear fealty to no single being. They thrive in their mountain stronghold by the sharpness of their senses, the quickness of their wits, and the strength of their massive forearms. They are guided in this world by their Spirits of the Wild, who embody the virtues of the mightiest beasts. As a people, they are quick to anger, even quicker to smile, and treat each new day as a personal challenge. They drink and feast and hunt with equal gusto, and fear few things. They are steadfast allies and implacable foes.

History

The norn hail from the frozen mountains of the Far Shiverpeaks, leagues to the north of the human kingdoms. Their history is one of heroes, spirits, and impossible deeds. A norn warrior remains immortal only as long as she is remembered by descendents and only as long as her songs are sung by skaalds around the lodge fires. So it has been for times uncounted.

This changed with the arrival of Jormag, the Elder Ice Dragon. Stirring from its frozen sleep, the dragon erupted into the living world. The norn first fought it in the manner that they had always fought--as valiant heroes seeking to defeat the beast in single combat. Hundreds were slain, and the norn themselves forced from their homelands.

The Spirits of the Wild aided the norn in their flight. Some died protecting them; some remained behind to fight Jormag and were lost. Others, the greatest of their spirits--Wolf, Bear, Raven, and Snow Leopard--guided the norn to safety in lands once belonging to the dwarves.

Hoelbrak

The norn are not a people of cities--they prefer simple steadings carved out of the wilderness, where survival depends upon one's own power and ability. Yet Hoelbrak acts as a focal point of norn civilization, for it is here that the Spirits of the Wild led the great hero Aesgir and the fleeing norn to safety. In the years since its founding, norn from all over the Shiverpeaks have come here to trade, to meet, to brag, and to drink, but only a few have made it their year-round home.

Knut Whitebear, Aesgir's grandson, now oversees Hoelbrak, but any attempt to call him their ruler would be met with derision. Knut's title is Master of the Lodge. He keeps Hoelbrak safe, as his father and grandfather did before him. He tests the young and celebrates their achievements with great moots. The Wolfborn, led by his two sons, keep the peace among these brawling, argumentative people.

Five great structures dominate Hoelbrak. The Great Lodge is Knut's domain, and in its high galleries and balconies one can find the greatest heroes of this people. Each of the other four lodges is dedicated to one of the four Spirits of the Wild--Wolf, Bear, Raven, and Snow Leopard. Here work the shamans that keep alive the faith and the skaalds that tell the old tales of those who have gone before. Here is where the wisdom of the norn survives.

The Spirits of the Wild

The norn have no gods in the human sense of the word. Instead, they venerate the Spirits of the Wild: totemic powers, the great spirits of the wild creatures. Each totem has virtues and lessons to teach the norn: Bear has her strength; Wolf teaches unity in numbers; Raven is wisdom; Snow Leopard speaks of cunning and stealth. There are other spirits, too, some unworthy of veneration, some dead, some merely missing.

The norn have the ability to shape-change into forms beloved by the Spirits. While transformed, they become closer to those spirits and to understanding the power of the wild. Norn enjoy the bounty of the land, but they do not despoil it, for the wisdom of the Spirits brings them an understanding that tempers their direct, quick-tempered natures.

New Challenges, Ancient Enemies

The norn have spread through the Shiverpeaks, and their distinctive homes can be found near the best hunting grounds and the clearest streams. They are not alone in these new lands, however, and must fight for their homes--which is just as the norn want it.

Long ago, the dwarves ruled these deep valleys and cavern-riddled mountains. These diminutive warriors descended into the depths, transformed by ancient magic to fight the minions of a different Elder Dragon. Now their ruined homes have been usurped by their former slaves and servants, the dredge, who claim all the lands below the surface as their own and vie with the norn for the lands above.

The mountaintops are home to another fallen race, the jotun. These giants were once wise and powerful, and their fall has been long and hard. Now little more than savages surviving in the wreckage of their ancestors' citadels, they challenge the norn for domination.

Yet the greatest danger to the norn has followed them from the north. Jormag's champions and minions are abroad in the land, corrupting the pure snows and powerful creatures with its icy breath. Worst of all, there are those among the norn themselves who recognize Jormag's power. They revere Dragon as if it were another Spirit and seek to learn from it and master its abilities. Only too late do they discover their error: Dragon teaches only corruption and death.

The Power of the Norn

Jormag drove them from their original homeland, but the norn are no refugees, battered and seeking aid. Rather, they see the Elder Dragon as merely another challenge to be bested. If not today, then soon. Until that day comes, until the hero who will shatter the tooth of Jormag arises and shows the norn the way back to their northern homes, the norn will live each day as if it were their last. The living world is a wondrous place for them, filled with challenges, struggles, and the potential for great stories.

Blog

Read the ArenaNet Blog for more information about Norn!

Screenshots

Sylvari

2011-06-22T06:41:00.001-07:00

"Evil threatens Tyria, but our Dream will guide us through darkness... to dawn."

Long ago, a weary soldier planted a strange seed in the depths of the Maguuma Jungle. For centuries, the Pale Tree grew, branches arching over the forest, until at last--twenty five years ago--it bloomed, and the Firstborn stepped into the world. They were followed by their brethren, season after season of sylvari, wide-eyed with wonder and searching for purpose in this strange land. Shaped first by the Dream that nurtured them before they awakened, the sylvari now travel Tyria seeking adventure and their place in the world. They struggle to balance curiosity with duty; eagerness with chivalry; and warfare with honor.

The Dream still lingers in their souls, like an echo of a distant song. Through it, they can sense the ebb and flow of their race, feel the empathic connections between all sylvari, and share their discoveries and knowledge like water into a river's current. They have a deep connection with the land and the riches it bears, and know that all things which grow and blossom are their brethren. Guided by the lessons carved into the sacred Ventari Tablet, they have built a city within the forest, and created a culture that blends the mystery of magic with a steel-tempered resolution to do good.

But not all sylvari are noble, and not all Dreams are pleasant. Some of the children of the Pale Tree walk a shadowed path, devoted to a Nightmare that boils beneath the surface and whispers of dark moons, wicked revels, and terrible secrets murmured at midnight. The Nightmare Court rejects the virtues of their brethren and seeks to draw all sylvari toward their sinister philosophy. If they are not stopped, they will taint the Dream with their evil deeds and corrupt the Pale Tree herself, condemning the noble race of sylvari to a future of vice and corruption. In the battle between Dream and Nightmare, the fate of the newest race in Tyria will be determined by heroes.

Screenshots

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2011-06-22T06:11:00.001-07:00

Engineer

2011-06-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

Masters of mechanical mayhem, engineers tinker with explosives, gadgets, elixirs, and all manner of deployable devices. They can take control of an area by placing turrets, support their allies with alchemic weaponry, or lay waste to foes with a wide array of mines, bombs, and grenades.

Like elementalists, engineers use a single weapon set at a time, but they complement this weapon set by equipping special utility and healing kits. These kits provide the engineer with special weapons and backpacks loaded with a full set of skills to replace their current weapon skills.

Weapon Kits—These are utility skills that equip a new weapon in the engineer's hands when activated. For example, the flamethrower kit creates a short-range AOE weapon the engineer can use to overwhelm foes. The flamethrower has skills like Immolate to damage nearby enemies, Air Blast to defend from ranged attacks, and Backdraft to suck enemies into range of the weapon's powerful attacks.

Backpack Kits—When activated, these special utility kits equip a backpack that replaces the engineer's current weapon skills with a set of more specialized skills. For example, a bomb kit puts a backpack on engineers that allows them to deploy bombs with a variety of effects including smoke, concussion, and fire.

Turrets—An engineer can deploy turrets: immobile allied devices that help defend and control an area. When a turret is deployed, the skill in that slot is replaced with its overcharged version. For example, an engineer can deploy a Thumper Turret to cause AOE damage, and then activate the overcharge version of that skill for a big thump attack that knocks down nearby enemies. An engineer can interact with deployed turrets, packing them up and moving them around. This removes the turret—and the option to overcharge it—triggering a short recharge before that turret can be deployed again. Only one of each type of turret can exist at a time.

Tool Belt—An engineer tool belt is a set of special skills above the weapon skill bar. It enhances the effectiveness and functionality of the engineer's utility and heal skills. The tool belt can add a self-destruct skill to turrets or a detonation option to all mines. When paired with the grenade kit, the tool belt allows a grenade barrage; with the med kit, it adds a self-healing skill.

Skills

Weapons

Main Hand: Pistol
Off Hand: Pistol, Shield
Two-Handed: Rifle

Backpack Kits

Tool Kit
Grenade Kit
Bomb Kit
Mine Kit
Med Kit

Weapon Kits

Flamethrower
Elixir Gun

Turrets

Rifle Turret
Thumper Turret
Net Turret
Flame Turret
Healing Turret

http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/engineer/