Guild Wars - Third Edition

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Barinthus
If you ever want to do Thunderhead Keep bonus, let me know - it's surprising easy.

Yeah, hardest part is getting people who listen.

[Barinthus]

Indeed! I don't like to but I find that as a group leader I have to be very draconian. People who refuse to listen, cooperate, or even toe the line get themselves booted from the group during my 'screening time' before the mission.

[Barinthus]

Have you guys heard about the second new class - ritualist?

If not I can post some information.

Anyway here's an interview about Guild Wars: Factions

[Main_Brain]

Originally posted by Barinthus
If not I can post some information.

Last thing I heard Ritualist seemed like a strange Ranger/Nekro Hybrid?

Will the Old Classes get new Skills too? I really wished I could Summon the Same Beasts the Wesir can :/

[Jamski]

The old classes are getting 25 new skills each.

Ritualist looks like it will use spirits that are "active" - i.e. you'll summon a spirit and then use it to do thing like healing and damage.

[DrSpike]

Cool, I'll have chance to start working on some new uber team builds when the x-pack arrives.

[Barinthus]

Chapter 2 Information from Computer Gaming World

I copied and pasted this from www.guildguruwars.com and I haven't seen the magazine yet - only subscribers have it right now as far I know.

Chapter 2 information on Guild Wars and the new three nation continent of Cantha.
Note by Savio: It's a violation of copyright laws to reprint text from magazines, so do not post any of the text or even links to the text.

Also, STOP POSTING RELEASE DATES. Thank you.

Cantha

* Takes place in Cantha, an Asian-style area
* Plot--stop the 200-year murderer of an emperor from making trouble
* Shing Jea Monastery akin to Presearing in Chapter 1, a tutorial area
* Story missions match groups with and against each other (whole 8 player groups included)
* Players may choose an alliance--Luxons or the Kurzicks, which affects conflicts in the story and pvp areas such as a "king of the hill" scenario
* Two announced classes--assassin and ritualist


The Assassin

* Primary attribute increases chance of critical hits and gains energy for the assassin with energy on every critical hit.
* Attribute skills include dagger skills, offensive hexes and magic, and teleportation and stealth techniques
* Sample skill list: Jagged Strike, Viper Strike, Razor Wing, Moebius Strike, Death's Charge, Shadow Refuge, Critical Eye. (complete descriptions in magazine)


The Ritualist

* A dark, savage priest; mix between ranger, necromancer and monk.
* Primary attribute increases the durability of the ritualist's spirits and other creatures, such as ranger pets.
* Attribute skills include direct-damage spell line, immobile spirit creatures, and healing.
* Sample skill list: Essence Strike, Pain, Spirit Burn, Channeled Stroke, Shelter, Flesh of my Spirit. (complete description in magazine)


Faction Wars, PvP Arenas, Equal Footing, GWWC

* Faction Wars betwen Luxon and Kurzick
* 55 maps to try and gain control of
* Successful alliances enjoy discounted merchant prices and display of banner
* Guild Halls will have NPC-like merchants, storage agents, additional guild storage and scrimmage play.
* New guild halls will be available.
* PVP arenas; Ascalon Arena, the Tomb of the Primeval Kings, will all be on their own continent called Battle Isles
* Practice areas will be implemented.
* A group of "core skills" will be available in each campaign to ensure balance.
* Ability to go to Cantha and change your secondary profession to ritualist or assassin.
* 2 new campaigns per year are slated to come out.
* No word yet on if GWWC will be televised in North America.

Later into the thread...

*There are 2 new ANNOUNCED professions-the ritualist and the assassin
+These will only be available to people who buy the Chap. 2
*You DONT have to buy both Chap 1 and Chap 2. Either one works fine by itself.
+Chapter 1 only players wont access new professions, skills, and areas
+Chapter 2 only players wont access any Chap 1 places, and will lack some skills skills of Chapter 1 professions. Chapter 2 only players will have access to all 8 professions
+People with both chapter 2 and 1 will have access to everything in both chapters. People with both chapters CAN KEEP PREVIOUS CHAPTER 1 CHARACHTERS and play them in chapter 2 and one areas.
+Both Ch1 and CH2 will have access to all PvP arenas
*Chapter 2
+There WILL be more charachter slots
+There will be guild storage
+EACH existing profession will get 25 new skills and six new sets of armor
+2 new announced guild halls
+Mrechants and storage agents in guild halls
+Existing Charachters can change secondary professions to Ritualist and Assassin much the same way as the other professions
LEVEL CAP IS SILL 20
Im reading the article that was removed earlier due to copyright stuff, and things posted her are things specifically mentioned in the parts of the article that were posted. For those of you interested, the magazine is
Febuary 2006, issue #259 Computer Gaming World

The article is still illegally posted on some sites. So I read it. I'll clear up alittle without going too far.

General Info:
- The Tutural is promised to be better. Teaching team tactics like target calling and avoiding groups of enemies.

Assas. Info:
- Dual-weilding (a primary and offhand Dagger).
- Her skills are supposed to flow together in sequence and animation for massive damage results. (basically she can hit up combos).
- They say her armor will NOT be "warrior calibur".

Attributes:
Not giving away all info, but
her primary is dealing with critical strikes
She has dagger mastery as thats her weapon choice
An attribute for her hexes and magics
An attirubte for her teleportation and defensive stuff.

Her Skills:
Again - gotta support the magazine, but basically The skills they provided fit the description nicely.
She has primary and offhand dagger attacks,
Dual handed attacks,
teleportation skill (this one teleporting you straight to your target),
a simple Evasion stance that heals you,
and a skill to further improve your critical rate.

The designer also mentions a class combo he was thinking about when designing it. As/Ele that uses teleportation skills to hit off point blank AoE dmg.

Ritualist info:
- The point is made that he is Blindfolded. So all his magic comes from his mind. Like a Pyschic.
- Again, like a necro, ranger,monk.
- His main focus with nearly all of his skills is the micromanagement of Spirits.
- Its mentioned this guy will be a heavy support character above all else.

Attributes:
Again - letting just alittle cat out of bag
His primary helps his spirits (and also Ranger Pets it says)
He has a line is damage magic
His second magic is his bulk of his spirit summoning magic
and of course his healing style magics

Skills:
Again - Cant copy the information, get the magazine.
The Ritualist's sample skills given nearly all had to do with Spirits. So it gives the point that spirits are a big thing.
An energy healer dealing with spirits,
A damage spell dealing with spirits,
Another damage spell, this one being AoE,
A weird damage spell, mentioning having an item that "channels" the damage - so this is probably a clue to the Ritualist's main weapon choice,
Then you sample two spirits, one that protects allies, and one that is a new kind of deal for GW - a spirit that actually attacks the enemy.
Then a sample of his monk-ish skills. A resurrection spell.

The design'ers comment here is that being an alternative monk IS NOT the main focus here - They wanted the ritualist to be a whole new kind of thing for GW.

-----------------------------------------------------

Skills for our classes:
- EACH class thats already here gets 25 additional skills, and 6 sets of armor. [This will probably not be more AL, but rather other choices in secondary effects on the armor]

Then they give some samples of these new skills

Elementalist:
They said the main focus really was to make multi-attribute ele's more viable.
This is shown in one of the sample skills that reminds me of Lightning Touch (that is, its an air spell that has an effect that happens off of Water hexes).
The elite they showed was an air spell that teleports you to the target.

Mesmers:
They said mesmer's focus was not changed, just more optinos of doing the same.
The main One I'll mention is another Illusion hex spell that cuases, they say, "massive" health degen, but heals the opponent when it ends.

Monk:
Also says around same lines.
Dont take that like they dont get new stuff, because some of the skills mentioned have some weird new angles to go at a monk from.
The last spell mentioned is a powerful healing spell that disables al lyour other healing spells and cant cast on yourself [makes it sound uber powerful]

Necromancer:
The biggest thing they mention is more enchantment removal, and a NEW MINION!
The enchantment removal spell is very very powerful, [so I'd expect it to have a huge cost and recharge when it comes out lol].
The elite they showed was a new minion. This new minion leaves a CORPSE behind so you can just re-rasie him or exploit the corpse.

Ranger:
They promise new EVERYTHING - including pets.
two skills I want to give a tiny spoiler on is a Spirit that cuases bleeding on knocked down foes, and the elite bow attack they showed which Dazes the opponent [so Rangers are even better anti-casters].

Warrior:
The big thing here is that the warrior now can protect his allies thorugh skills.
This is shown thorugh a sample stance that blocks attacks for your allies as long as you don't move.
A new concept for warrior is also a two-slash sword attack.

----------------------------------------------------------------

More on Faction:
- Guilds in the same faction can now become allies.
- Promised longer, better PvP experiences, with alot more viables and fun.
- New rewards for faction winning include things like discounted merchants in certain areas, and areas only your alliance can go to.

Guilds Info:
- Guild battles as we know them get upgraded for Factions too.
- the rest I think has been mentioned in this thread, like guild storage, etc.

Radical change for arenas:
- All the PvP areans we know and love are getting uprooted and put on their own "Battle Isle". So no arena is linked to a certain city.
- You get to Battle Isle from the port city (Lion's Arch in chap1)
- BOTH chapters then have access to every arena.
- Training will now be available for PvP

EQualness:
THESE ARE THE BIG QUESTIONS PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ASKING IN THIS THREAD:
- Chapter 2, named "Factions", is a STAND ALONE GAME. not an expansion. Both Chapters will exist independent of each other, except for some interactions (chap1 people going over to the pvp arenas, and changing to /rit and such).
- The "Core Skills" they pick for each class, and New weapons and such, will be avialable in any chapter to keep some balance in the arenas. Though newer chapter people do keep some stuff only for their chapter.

(PERSONAL OPINION: and thats only fair..they did fork over the money to buy that chapter, it wouldn't make sense to just give all the new stuff to chapter 1 people..but they had to balance the new stuff out alittle, since chapter 1 and 2 do share pvp arenas).

The Future:
- They look forward to releasing 2 chapters a year if Guild Wars stays popular and such.

[Barinthus]

If you even just slightly liked GW - you must check this out

http://www.guildwars.com/press/pr13-10-01-06.html

[DrSpike]

Neat-o to the first post, and neat-o squared to the second.

[SirOsis]

Hmm.... sounds pretty good. Looks like I'll probably pick this up.

[DrSpike]

I'll definitely get it. GW was a one of most favouritest games evar.

[Barinthus]

Wow! Imagine - the preview event is tomorrow!!!

Dammit - why???? I have to take an exam this Saturday so have to study. I definitely am going to run home right after and test out assassin and ritualist!

If you haven't logged in since yesterday - do so! New introduction screen, new arenas, and some more!

www.guildwarsguru.com have some pictures of the expansion and one picture looks like two new classes are there.

From www.guildwars.com...

Update - Thursday, January 19

Attention citizens.

The Tomb of the Primeval Kings has been overrun by the enemies of Balthazar. The Zaishen Order recognizes that many of you may wish to help conquer this foe. While this is admirable, only those truly devoted to the teachings of Balthazar should attempt to enter the Tombs.

Those wishing to become as great as we, the Zaishen, should take heart. Members of our order await your arrival at the Great Temple of Balthazar. We will train you in the ways of war, so you may continue the personal squabbles that seem to consume so much of your daily routine.

If you truly wish to better yourself, take the ship to the Great Temple, and hone your skills with the Zaishen.

May the blessings of Balthazar follow you on your journey.

-Commander Kuro of the Zaishen Order

Guild Wars: Factions
Free-For-All PvP Weekend

With this update, we roll out the first parts of Guild Wars: Factions, including the new login and character selection/creation screens, boat travel between continents, and a weekend sneak preview of the two new professions. (The weekend event lasts from Friday January 20 8:00 am GMT to Monday January 23 7:59 am GMT.)

All high-level PvP has been moved to the Battle Isles, which can be reached using the ship off the coast of Lion's Arch. On the Battle Isles, you'll find a new explorable area with Training Arenas, NPCs who can help you test all aspects of your character's build, updates to existing PvP Arenas, and all-new Zaishen Challenges, where you and your friends can practice against teams of computer AI opponents. All of this content is now organized into a natural progression, so that players can experience the basics of PvP before moving on to advanced challenges.

New computer AI challenges:

* Training Arenas: a series of four maps designed to teach the basics of PvP and Arena Combat. Beat all four maps to unlock the Zaishen Challenge on your account.

* Zaishen Challenge: an Arena where you can play the computer AI team of your choice on the map of your choice. Beat five different computer AI teams to unlock the Zaishen Elite Challenge.

* Zaishen Elite Challenge: the ultimate AI challenge. See how far you can get in a series of random Arena matches against increasingly difficult AI teams.

New unlocking of existing PvP types:

* Win five-in-a-row in the Random Arenas to unlock the Team Arenas on your account. (Existing accounts have the Team Arenas unlocked already.)

* Win five total games in the Team Arenas to unlock the Tournament (Heroes' Ascent) on your account. (Existing accounts have the Tournament unlocked already.)

Changes to Guild Combat mechanics:

* Five minutes after Victory or Death starts, both teams' Guild Lords will now rush out of their base to engage in combat.

* In the Burning Isle guild hall, NPCs now take the high path to avoid lava when Victory or Death occurs, and Flame Cursed Sentinals no longer drop loot.

* The Guild Lord's Amulet of Protection now interacts correctly with Deep Wound. (See Fansite Friday #62 for more information about the Guild Lord's Amulet of Protection.)

Miscellaneous improvements:

* When a party leader uses Map Travel in a town or outpost, his entire party travels with him to the new map.

* During PvP matches, the Party window now displays your team color.

* Skill icons for Enchantment and Hex spells are now displayed with a small marker in their upper-right corner.

* Text descriptions and icons of various magic item upgrades have been improved.

* The location and visibility of hint popup windows can now be modified using the Customize Layout interface.

Miscellaneous fixes:

* Ghosts in The Underworld are no longer considered fleshy and will not leave exploitable corpses.

[Kassiopeia]

Ooh, I'm going to have to log on tonight

Buying the exp pack as soon as it's on play.com, of course.

[DrSpike]

Not sure I'll have time tomorrow. I'll still get the x-pack though when it's released.

[Barinthus]

I believe you can order it directly from A-net - if you open the GW login screen and click on create account there's an option to purchase an account.