How to switch between the starter areas in Guild Wars 2

Update January 2015: Welcome to Guild Wars 2, new players! :) We have updated this guide now, so you should have no issues travelling through the world of Tyria.

We also added the German translation below. Just click this link or manually scroll down. / Wir haben die deutsche Übersetzung unten angefügt. Klickt auf diesen Link oder scrollt herunter.

***

After you have created your character, you will be in a short tutorial. This is in an instanced area where switching is not possible yet. Play through it first and defeat the boss at the end. Directly after this tutorial, you’re ready to switch to whatever area you would like to go!

All races’ cities are connected with each other through asura portals in Lion’s Arch. So if you want to get to another starter area, you need to go to Lion’s Arch first. If you are low level, you need to travel through your race’s capital: Rata Sum for Asura, The Grove for Sylvari, Divinity’s Reach for Humans, Black Citadel for Charr and Hoelbrak for Norn. Later on, you can also use the Heart of the Mists. But when you are too low level, you can’t easily get there yet. Just take the path through your race’s city instead and worry about the Heart of the Mists later. :)

Asura: Metrica Province – Rata Sum – Lion’s Arch

The left half of the picture above shows the location you’re at once you get out of the tutorial. Turn your character around and enter the portal to reach your capital city “Rata Sum”. If you have already moved away from the location and can’t find it, look on the upper right of the picture which shows a part of the Metrica Province map. The portal to Rata Sum is on the left where you can see the white dots and the arrow.

Asura quite like their portals and you will find a lot of them in their city (the purple swirly markers on the map show you their location). You’ll enter at the bottom right of the map. Ignore the other portals next to you and walk towards the one on the top of the map (shown on the lower right in the picture). The portal up there will bring you to Lion’s Arch. Jump to the last paragraph to see where to go from here.

Charr: Plains of Ashford – Black Citadel – Lion’s Arch

The upper half of the picture shows you where your charr will end up once he or she gets out of the tutorial. Turn around and run through the portal to enter The Black Citadel which serves as your race’s headquarters. If you don’t know where you came out after leaving the tutorial, have a look at the lower left part of the picture. It shows a little part of the “Plains of Ashford” map and the location where you enter The Black Citadel.

Once inside the city, follow the dotted path that you can see on the lower right of the picture. There is only one asura portal, so it should be easy to spot. Hop through it and you’re in Lion’s Arch. Jump to the last paragraph to see where to go from here.

Human: Queensdale – Divinity’s Reach – Lion’s Arch

If you’re a human, you will not land directly in front of your city’s portal after the tutorial. Instead, you will be inside a building. Leave it, turn right and walk towards the portal (which can be seen on the lower left part of the picture). The picture above also shows you a part of the map of the Village of Shaemoor with the location of the portal to Divinity’s Reach.

Inside the city, take the right ramp up the path, walk straight on towards the green swirly marker that you can see in the picture on the right part. Once through the portal, you’re in Lion’s Arch. Jump to the last paragraph to see where to go from here.

Norn: Wayfarer Foothills – Hoelbrak – Lion’s Arch

As a norn, you just need to turn right after getting out of the tutorial and run towards the portal up there. The upper right half of the picture shows quite well where you need to go. The map on the lower left shows the exact location, in case you’ve already wandered away from that place and don’t remember where exactly you ended up after the tutorial.

Hoelbrak itself is also pretty straight forward. Just walk the path shown on the right map in the picture. When the path makes that turn to the left, there’s some stairs, so make sure not to miss those! Once there, hop through the portal to Lion’s Arch. Jump to the last paragraph to see where to go from here.

Sylvari: Caledon Forest – The Grove – Lion’s Arch

The sylvari are a special case. Before you go anywhere, please look at yourself. You may notice you’re lacking something important. Walk a few steps forward. Over there you should find an NPC that can help you. Yeah, we are trying to be vague and probably fail miserably. – Update January 2015: This may have changed. Maybe you aren’t lacking anything anymore and can just go through the portal without missing anything. :p

Once you’re done, walk back and through the portal. The map on the upper right in the picture shows you the path to said portal. The map on the lower right shows you where to go once you are inside The Grove, the sylvari’s capital. Walk straight on, turn left, hop through the portal and you’re in Lion’s Arch. Jump to the last paragraph to see where to go from here.

Anywhere in the World – The Mists – Lion’s Arch

You’re not always going to be near your city – or any other city – and may still want to travel elsewhere. Please note that as long as you’re not in combat and the waypoint isn’t contested, you can always click on any waypoint your character has already unlocked and travel there. But this can get quite expensive and sometimes, you just want to go to another city quickly. You can also reach Lion’s Arch by going to the Mists – and by doing so, you will not pay anything! However, with some changes last year, this is only possible once the “PvP tab” becomes available for you! If you can’t see it, your character is too low level.

Open the “PvP tab”. That is the icon with the two crossed swords on top. Then click on the button that says “Enter PvP Lobby”. When you get there for the first time ever (on your account, not per character!), you will be asked to do the PvP tutorial. You can skip it and do it later, or do it immediately. It doesn’t take long and explains a few basic things about combat and PvP.

The left half of the picture above shows the map for this PvP tutorial. The picture on the upper middle part of the picture shows where you appear when you go to the Heart of the Mists for the first time and thus, end up in the PvP tutorial. Right below, you can see the portal you get through when a) leaving the PvP tutorial through the portal (seen on the left map at the top) or b) whenever you go to the Heart of the Mists after having done the tutorial. The right part of the picture shows you the map and where you’ll find the portal to Lion’s Arch. But it’s really easy, as you can see on the lower middle picture: It’s right in front of you! There’s also an NPC on your right that will let you do the PvP tutorial if you have skipped it before.

Once you’re in Lion’s Arch, this is where you get to other capital cities

Now that you’re in Lion’s Arch you may wonder where to go next – or maybe not because it’s quite easy. At least, if you have come from another city as you’ll be in the Eastern Ward right where all the other city portals are. The middle part of the picture above shows all the cities’ portals in the Eastern Ward. As you can see, they’re all in the same area. And you don’t need to run up to each one to see where they lead. Each city has guards from the respective race standing near them (as seen in the picture). Look for them and you’ll know which one is which.

If you came from the Heart of the Mists, you’re south of those portals at Fort Marriner which you can also see in the picture. If you’re there, just run towards the cities’ portals up north in the Eastern Ward (or use a waypoint if you have been there before). Or maybe stay where you are and sign up for a WvW battle. There is one portal for each of the worlds’ battlegrounds (Green, Red and Blue Borderlands) and the central one (Eternal Battlegrounds).

***

Update (Januar 2015): Der Guide ist wieder up-to-date. Willkommen an alle neuen Guild Wars 2-Spieler und viel Spaß bei eurer Reise durch Tyria! :)

Wer von euch Guild Wars 1 gespielt hat, wird sich vielleicht noch daran erinnern, dass es nicht so einfach war, zwischen den Startgebieten der verschiedenen Kampagnen zu wechseln. In Guild Wars 2 ist das glücklicherweise wesentlich schneller und einfacher. Sogar deutlich einfacher als in vielen anderen MMOs. Da die Frage aber wiederholt im Spiel wie auch in den Suchanfragen unseres Blogs aufgetaucht ist, hier nun ein paar Bilder mit zugehöriger Anleitung, auf dass jeder von euch gleich in dem Startgebiet seiner/ihrer Wahl die Welt kennenlernen kann!

Nachdem ihr euren Charakter erstellt habt, müsst ihr zuerst das instanzierte Tutorial durchspielen, da ihr erst danach in der “normalen” Welt landet, in der euch alle Wege offenstehen.

Allgemein solltet ihr zuerst wissen, dass die Hauptstädte der unterschiedlichen Rassen durch Asuraportale mit nur einem Zwischenschritt (Löwenstein) miteinander verbunden sind. Wollt ihr also das Startgebiet wechseln, führt euch euer erster Schritt von eurem aktuellen Startgebiet nach Löwenstein. Später könnt ihr auch über das Herz der Nebel reisen. Dies steht euch aber seit einer Änderung im letzten Jahr im niedrigen Level nicht mehr zur Verfügung. Reist also erst einmal einfach über die Hauptstädte und kümmert euch erst später um das Herz des Nebels.

Asura: Metrica Provinz – Rata Sum – Löwenstein

Der linke Teil des Bildes zeigt euch genau die Position an, an der ihr beim Verlassen des Tutorials in der Welt ankommt. Dreht euch einmal um und betretet eure Hauptstadt “Rata Sum”. Falls ihr euch bereits von dem Portal entfernt haben solltet, seht ihr in dem oberen Kartenausschnitt der Karte der Metrica Provinz wo es sich befindet. Das Portal ist links bei den kleinen weißen Punkten direkt neben dem Pfeil.

Lasst euch in Rata Sum nicht von der Anzahl an Portalen (das sind die violetten Strudel auf der Karte) in die Irre führen. Die Asura mögen die Dinger nicht einfach nur, sie haben sie auch entwickelt. Ihr betretet Rata Sum in der rechten unteren Ecke und euer Ziel, das Portal nach Löwenstein, liegt auf der gleichen Ebene ganz im Norden der Stadt. Folgt einfach der Route, die euch der untere Kartenausschnitt anzeigt und ihr könnt Löwenstein kaum noch verpassen. Klickt hier, um zum Abschnitt “Von Löwenstein zur Hauptstadt eurer Wahl” zu kommen.

Charr: Ebenen von Aschfurt – Schwarze Zitadelle – Löwenstein

Der obere Teil des Bildes zeigt euch den Ort, an dem ihr steht, wenn ihr aus dem Tutorial kommt. Ihr müsst euch einfach nur umdrehen, um das Portal zur Schwarzen Zitadelle zu sehen, was die Hauptstadt eurer Rasse ist. Falls ihr aus den Augen verloren haben solltet, wo das war, wird euch der Kartenausschnitt unten links helfen: Die weißen Punkte zeigen den Weg, der in den Ebenen von Aschfurt zum Portal genommen werden müsste. Im rechten Kartenausschnitt seht ihr dann, ebenfalls als weiße Punkte, den Pfad, den ihr in der Schwarzen Zitadelle selbst nehmen müsst, um auf sicheren Pfoten Löwenstein zu erreichen. Klickt hier, um zum Abschnitt “Von Löwenstein zur Hauptstadt eurer Wahl” zu kommen.

Menschen: Königintal – Götterfels – Löwenstein

Als Mensch landet ihr nach dem Tutorial nicht direkt vor dem Übergang zu eurer Hauptstadt wie die anderen Völker. Ihr müsst stattdessen erst einmal das Gebäude verlassen, in dem ihr ankommt. Das zweite Bild von rechts zeigt euch den Weg zum Portal: Wenn ihr das Gebäude verlassen habt, biegt einmal rechts um die Ecke ab. Am oberen Ende des Weges könnt ihr das Portal sehen. Die beiden Bilder links sollten bei der Orientierung helfen und die weißen Punkte im Kartenausschnitt zeigen den direkten Weg, den ihr im Königintal nehmen könnt. Im rechten Kartenausschnitt zeigen die Punkte schließlich die kürzeste Marschroute durch Götterfels zu dem Portal zu Löwenstein, welche über die rechte Seite der Rampe führt. Klickt hier, um zum Abschnitt “Von Löwenstein zur Hauptstadt eurer Wahl” zu kommen.

Norn: Wanderer Hügel – Hoelbrak – Löwenstein

Als Norn wendet ihr euch nach dem Verlassen des Tutorials direkt nach rechts und könnt den Pfad hinauf zum Portal nach Hoelbrak kommen. Die obere Hälfte des Bildes zeigt euch recht direkt, wo’s lang geht. Falls ihr euch schon von dort entfernt habt und den Überblick verloren habt, könnt ihr auf der Karte im unteren Teil sehen, wo man aus dem Tutorial gekommen ist und wie der Pfad zum Portal verläuft.

In Hoelbrak selbst verläuft der Weg relativ direkt. Folgt einfach dem auf der rechten Karte markierten Pfad und achtet darauf, an der Stelle mit dem Knick in südlicher Richtung nicht die Treppe zu verpassen! Am Portal angekommen, seid ihr nur noch einen Satz von Löwenstein entfernt. Klickt hier, um zum Abschnitt “Von Löwenstein zur Hauptstadt eurer Wahl” zu kommen.

Sylvari: Caledon Wald – Der Hain – Löwenstein

Die Sylvari sind nicht nur in ihrer Erscheinung ein Sonderfall. Bevor ihr euch auf den Weg macht, werft einen Blick auf „euch“. Solltet ihr das Gefühl haben, dass da vielleicht etwas fehlt, schaut euch um und seht, ob euch da nicht vielleicht ein NPC helfen kann. Ja, wir versuchen da etwas wage zu bleiben, auch wenn’s vielleicht nicht ganz so gut geklappt hat. (Es kann sein, dass dieser Teil mittlerweile geändert wurde und euch nichts mehr fehlt. ;) Dann reist einfach direkt weiter.)

Jetzt aber zurück zum eigentlichen Ziel und damit zu dem Portal, das sich südlich der Stelle befindet, an der ihr aus dem Tutorial gekommen seid. Der linke Teil des Bildes zeigt euch die Stelle und die Blickrichtung zum Portal im Spiel und oben rechts den Kartenausschnitt des Caledon Waldes. Der untere Kartenausschnitt zeigt euch dann den Pfad, dem ihr folgen könnt, wenn ihr im Hain, der Hauptstadt der Sylvari, angekommen seid und auf dem kürzesten Weg nach Löwenstein gelangen wollt. Klickt hier, um zum Abschnitt “Von Löwenstein zur Hauptstadt eurer Wahl” zu kommen.

Von überall in der Welt – Herz der Nebel – Löwenstein

Auf euren Abenteuern werdet ihr oft fern von eurer Hauptstadt oder überhaupt irgendeiner Stadt sein und dennoch nur mal schnell ganz woanders hin wollen. Ihr könnt natürlich, solange ihr außerhalb des Kampfes seid und ein Wegpunkt nahe eures Wunschzielortes frei geschaltet und nicht umkämpft ist, direkt dort hinreisen, aber die Kosten dafür sind bei großen Distanzen nicht gerade unerheblich. Liegt eine Stadt in der Nähe oder ist eine euer direktes Ziel, gibt es auch noch eine günstige Alternative zu den Wegpunkten und eine schnellere zum Laufen. Öffnet das Fenster zum strukturierten PvP (links oben im Interface die gekreuzten Schwerter) und klickt dann auf „Geht zum Herz der Nebel“. Wenn ihr mit eurem Account das erste mal das Herz der Nebel betretet, landet ihr im PvP-Turorial, welches ihr entweder schnell erledigen könnt oder ihr umgeht es erst einmal. Es kann jederzeit nachgeholt werden!

Der linke Teil des Bildes zeigt den Weg, auf dem ihr das PvP-Tutorial schnellstmöglich durchqueren könnt. Im mittleren Teil seht ihr oben, wo ihr das Tutorial betretet, welches ihr geradeaus durchqueren oder auch absolvieren könnt. Im unteren Teil seht ihr dann, wo ihr nach dem Tutorial stehen oder nachfolgend jedes Mal beim Betreten ankommen werdet. Dies ist das eigentliche Herz der Nebel, von wo aus struktrierte PvP Spiele betreten und eure sPvP Charaktere ausgestattet und angepasst werden. Euch direkt gegenüber und ebenfalls auf dem Bild zu sehen, ist das Portal nach Löwenstein. Der Kartenausschnitt am rechten Rand zeigt den recht eindeutigen Weg zum Portal. Noch zu erwähnen ist, dass dort, wo ihr im Herz der Nebel ankommt, ein NPC steht, der euch jederzeit wieder in das Tutorial-Gebiet zurückbringen kann.

Von Löwenstein zur Hauptstadt eurer Wahl

In Löwenstein eingetroffen, fragt ihr euch vielleicht, wie’s von hier aus weitergeht. Vielleicht aber auch nicht, denn so schwer ist es von hier aus nicht mehr, vor allem, wenn ihr aus einer anderen Haupstadt gekommen seid. Der mittlere Bildausschnitt oben zeigt euch den entsprechenden Kartenausschnitt. Die Portale von den Hauptstädten und in die Hauptstädte befinden sich oben im “Östlichen Bezirk”. Wie ihr sehen könnt, befinden sich die Portale sehr nah beieinander.

Wenn ihr über das Herz der Nebel angereist sein solltet, kommt ihr im unteren Kartenausschnitt, bei Fort Marriner, an. Der Bildausschnitt links unten zeigt euch, was ihr seht, wenn ihr aus diesem Portal tretet. Lauft einfach der gestrichelten Linie nach Norden nach, um zu den Stadtportalen zu gelangen, oder dreht euch um, um zu den WvW-Portalen zu kommen. Für jedes Grenzland gibt es ein Portal, dazu noch das für die Ewigen Schlachtfelder und rechts das Portal an den Rand der Nebel.

Saying Goodbye to Guild Wars (For Now!)

With the recent addition of Wayferer’s Reverie to Guild Wars, we have been able to revisit some special places in Tyria before the majority will leave for Guild Wars 2. That together with the incoming screenshots for our Charrlie Giveaway (which, by the way, is open for participants until Saturday morning!) made me browse my own screenshot collection from Guild Wars while dwelling in memories. I’ve taken the ones I liked the most to show them here. Who knows when we will visit those places again? ;)

Guild Wars 2 Thief – How traits effect skill tooltips

No matter which MMO I play, I always end up with a rogue-like class. The fragility, agility and trickiness of this class-archetype is what I enjoy playing the most! I may by far not have the skill to play them flawlessly but I love that you can theorycraft and plan so much with this archetype. So it comes as no surprise that I absolutely love the thief in Guild Wars 2.

During the beta weekend event, I recorded a video of the thief’s traits and how each of them effects the tooltips when you put 30 points into them. I put together a picture of all the weapon skills’ tooltips comparing 0 and 30 points in the traits accordingly. I stopped after that because it would’ve been too time-consuming for me to do the same for the utility skills… especially considering traits and skills can change between every beta event and release.

If you prefer, you can also just watch the video that shows all that but, of course, not at once. ;)

Adventures of a Charr pack – There and back and there again!

Finally our new pack members arrived! Okay, they arrived about two weeks ago but it took them that time to settle in and they had quite a story to tell.

Their travel route was planned by their tactical headquarters like it was done for all their brothers. Many contacts with trusted guides of the logistic division were arranged all the way. Who would have guessed that ours would be misled and betrayed by the last one, who led them close to their target direction but got cold feet and secretly retreated with them. I absolutely hope that he got at least severely punished by his pack when they noticed!

Luckily, the Charrs were able to make it back to the headquarters alive and our trusted informant there was able to locate the problem. So they turned around immediately and went for another try while we manned our lookouts and alarmed everyone involved that we could reach to make sure to have a more competent guide this time.

Another week passed and they finally made it, broken down and tired of course from traveling that route a third time and very angered after realizing how close they were the first time. After having a night-long meal and some rest, we secured the area, found a treasure the locals had rumored about for generations and got in contact with a treacherous and greedy little species that seems to live around here. And so we and our new pack members stand on watch, day and night at our new home.

View their story here!

Spoken in more human pictures:
The first time the package got returned to NCsoft England due to a stupid and/or lazy delivery guy who marked me as an unknown resident after 3 years of living here! We got in contact with NCsoft support after 3 weeks without a sign of the package and had to wait for further processing till the 28 days provided for postal deliveries had passed. After those we continued our communication and both sides checked their postal contacts and tried to track down the package. While that was in progress, the package returned to NCsoft whose support immediately contacted us and asked if we wanted them to be delivered to us again. We cannot stop thanking the support for their great help!

This time they made it all the way! Thanks to the nontransparent way the responsible German delivery service works, we will never know for sure if it worked out now due to the extended address information we used this time, another/more intelligent/adaptive delivery guy or if the charrlies used their claws and forced him this time.

Guild Wars: Character slots, naming rules and their possible transition

When I try to imagine how the naming rules, server architecture, guild limitations and the character slots may be handled in Guild Wars 2 I always reach the point where I have to take into account how it was implemented in Guild Wars, why it may have been done like that and what the benefits of their decisions were. Especially the ones that they apparently want to keep. As an outsider my ideas and guesses are only that. Thus, I would love to read any deeper thoughts or other conclusions and ideas you may come up with!

My guesses put on the table simple, short, rough and maybe a little provocative are:
– Character slots will again be limited per account (not per server) but every character will be listed with its current home server.
– Naming rules are global and unique like in Guild Wars, but this time one word names are also possible.
– The basic game will be delivered with 3-5 character slots, the collector’s edition with 5-8.

If you are now sitting there nodding or shaking your head, rest assured that I can understand both reactions and sometimes have them about my own thoughts, too. Especially when I start listening to the two most extreme oppositional views in my head. ;)

One being overly optimistic, high of anticipation and delusional that Guild Wars 2 does not have to create an income for ArenaNet, dreaming of a world not limited by technical and financial boundaries. The other one being absolutely skeptical and mischievous knowing that there are as good as no companies which would say nay to the highest possible income for the least possible effort.

Please note that in the case of ArenaNet I still slightly tend to listen to the first one. Of all the companies on my personal radar they are the one I have the most confidence in that I will get what I will pay for. The other way around, they very rarely disappointed me. And when they did, there were always fast corrections or transparent explanations I could live with.

It’s my belief that one of the most basic decisions ArenaNet had to make for Guild Wars was how their server network should work to split and balance the possible load. Especially considering the financial and technical challenges an MMO meant at that time. As a result that decision directly influenced what kind of game world would be easier to implement and what limitations came along. I’ll take their decision for an “easier scalable and extendable massive instanced world with the layering in the outposts where many people could meet” as a given and compare some of its aspects to the “persistent world with massive amounts of players in the area simultaneously” to which Guild Wars 2 will belong to.

While with Guild Wars ArenaNet chose the very limiting way for their players in their world, some details show that nevertheless a global approach was important to them and still is. Most other games which are structured in “servers” come with capsuled parallel worlds. Each one with its own economy, own community and your character exclusively bound to one. ArenaNet instead decided to manage your character slots and the in-game NPC market in a global database. So you can log in with each character into any region you want, have the same NPC prices in all of them and can meet your trade partners worldwide.

In GW2 again, at least the new in game trade system will be not limited to your server (exact details and if it has any global or regional limits remain to be announced). While I do like being able to trade in all the regions of GW1 and love to never feel stuck at a server where economy or community sucks, it’s not made that way only for the good of the player. A heavily instanced game world compared to a cohesive one with its many simultaneous players, is so much easier to handle and to spread between an on demand expandable amount of servers. Managing the character slots globally also has the nice side effect for ArenaNet that they are able to sell additional slots sooner instead of letting us use up all unlocked character slots on every single server. While I wouldn’t mind it that much (because for me the lack of a monthly fee makes more than up for that), that’s my main argument why I do see them wanting to keep the globally managed character slots and technically simply add your server choice as one additional variable to each character slot.

Besides the fact that GW1 characters are managed worldwide and you can possibly meet any other player there are no server names to tag onto your name. ArenaNet came up with slightly different but essential limitations to how you can name you characters to avoid ambiguities. While they decided to rule out one word names, you are allowed to use multiple spaces to create your globally unique character name. What sounds trivial and enabled realistic combinations of for- and surname, titles or even seldomly considered foreign names, at the same time opened up the Pandora’s box of “creative” and odd combinations to integrate your overused popular or already taken names. But rating names or creativity should not be my focus in this post. Unique naming per server, region or even globally on the other hand is. Especially when taking into account the announced easy to execute server transfers in the upcoming Guild Wars 2.

Unique global naming would avoid one of the most frustrating aspects players may be confronted with (besides possible fees) when they want to switch servers or when servers are merged. Imagine the name you feel you have established yourself with and may be famous for is already taken on the target server. Maybe by a low level banking alt or someone not even playing anymore. While that dilemma is avoidable and my thoughts about globally managed character slots should explain why I see them keeping the global and unique naming too, I still owe you an explanation why single word names may have their introduction. I do not see a technical issue to rule them out, the shown demos of GW2 on this year’s exhibitions are still allowing them and I would consider it as a tribute to the e-sport orientation of their tournament PvP part and the habit gamers may have formed in other games. Short and single word names are much easier to recognize and so to build “e-fame” with.

Colin Johanson previously stated that there will be more than two character slots. Based on the foundation I argued till now it’s not that difficult to follow my train of thoughts why there will only be 3-8 character slots coming with the retail boxes (or download versions). As I just wrote, we know there will be more than just two slots. Also in many interviews it was stated that we should not run into limitations that fast. Well, considering that I am an altoholic and have too many stupid character names I come up with, my initial guess should be of at least 20 slots. ;) But thinking about ArenaNet, Guild Wars and the lack of a subscription I have to cut back to a maximum of five or eight slots, depending on the version (standard box, collector’s edition etc.). As a side note why I differentiate between normal and collector’s edition: Till now nothing is known about the content of a CE. But what would be cheaper for ArenaNet than some digital content (which they would love to sell us either way) additionally to physical goodies. So why not justifying a hopefully reasonable pricing of a CE this way and collecting some of the money directly at release which they would otherwise acquire over the next months, years or never?

Back to the still not argued number of five and eight slots. You all know them well. There will be five races and eight classes in the game when it launches. My simple assumption is that they want us to enjoy the game and give us either access to each of the races or to each of the classes or – on the other hand – deny us “full access” as an incentive to pay for character slots. If you want you can use that thought and observe the release of the game. The amount of character slots included at release could be taken as an indicator of how aggressive ArenaNet will be with their shop and how they will limit your content until you pay.

Imagining me buying the basic edition I may be satisfied with three slots but I am sure I would feel very limited by not even being able to play the five different races with their own story from start to end as one of them. Yes, it is possible to venture through the story of another race if you join a friend who plays that race. But for me that’s not the same, especially considering the effort it would take to coordinate. With five slots I guess I have to be happy. ArenaNet for sure wants to earn at least some money and buying slots to play every class I consider as tribute I will have to spend for playing their game without a monthly fee. Let me switch to imagining myself with a collector’s edition in my hands and that is what I actually want to buy. Now I have to raise my expectations. Being able to play all five races “out of the box” I definitely want to see as a given. While they may not use the mentioned opportunity to add digital content to increase the value of the CE I would feel a little unsatisfied if I didn’t get eight slots. In the end, I see a CE as a product for fans of the game, its lore and the world itself, so with less than eight slots I may have the feeling not to have bought the complete game. No, logging into the shop later that day/week/month to additionally buy some slots would not feel the same.

Allow me to use my fixation on the CE to dwell a little in thoughts about the recently announced collector’s editions of Star Wars: The Old Republic and Skyrim. Why exactly those two? Simply because they not only pushed the pricing a little. No, they nearly doubled the amount most of us were used to. How did they argue that? Ah well, I better leave that to the fans who I absolutely wish to have a lot of fun in those games but at the same time I impute them to see the value of their purchase through rose-colored glasses. I hope that ArenaNet keeps up the spirit they often recite that they do want to deliver content that literally earns them our money. So I would love to see a reasonable CE with stuff like the astonishing soundtrack, a book about the world and lore (an art-book would be nice too, but that’s already separately purchasable in their store) and a detailed artsy map of the world. If they want to absolutely stun me, the map would be made of cloth and “Destiny’s Edge” would be included as detailed figurines or a diorama. All that while having the price still capped at 80 $/€. To justify a pricing above that in my opinion there would have to be a fine selection of useful and valuable digital content (*hints at the 8 character slots*). But only to mention, I recommend avoiding content that cannot be acquired later (like the merchant that SW:TOR added) – in my opinion just to raise the pressure to buy the physical CE before it may be “gone” or you lack something that possibly reveals itself as a necessity later on.

Future announcements and further details may show the one or other error in my thoughts and there is a good possibility that I have to rethink some details of my statements or have to define them more accurately. But I guess that’s the risk about making things up in my mind, jumping to conclusions and blogging about them. ;)

SWTOR release on the horizon & my thoughts about it.

E3 is over and some new videos, cinematics and information about Star Wars: The Old Republic and its content were released. While I absolutely understand the hype when I watch those very detailed cinematics and enjoy every glimpse of story they do contain, I am also a little worried about the low amount of information about gameplay content, mechanics and how all the new information is published.

So I tried to rationalize a bit why and by which aspects I feel so torn between anticipation and disappointment. Here are some of them:

Damn yeah, it’s Star Wars! I am totally sucked into that universe the moment I hear any part of the many well known themes or sound effects and who could resist the urge to explore all the landscapes we know from the films and games and taking our role in their “history”.

The cinematics created by “Blur” do their part very well, but that’s no wonder. If you’ve been playing computer games for quite a while you surely know one or more trailers they did. Just take a look at their listed work. In a more negative way, some of the titles made me realize that a brilliant trailer and a beloved IP (intellectual property) does not automatically result in an awesome and successful game or hint in any way at the overall quality or content.

Speaking of the brilliant IP, “Star Wars: The Old Republic” is not the first Star Wars MMORPG.
While the prosperous days of “Star Wars Galaxies” are a long time ago and there are, not only for me, reasons to compare the two, BioWare already stated in more than one interview that their game should be considered fundamentally different. I’m not sure if that makes it better for me.
I liked Star Wars Galaxies for its wide terrain, plastered with player houses and -cities and a very complex, deep and time-consuming crafting and player economy, but there was maybe a lack of guided story and predefined endgame the time I played it, which was pre-NGE.

SWG comes from and maybe marks the end of the era of sandbox-MMOs. Compared to that BioWare’s new attempt seems to fit perfectly to the less free and deep but extremely entertainment oriented and easily accessible family of themepark-MMOs.

Considering the amount of different MMORPGs and the variation in their mechanics I was a little surprised that in the last year their announcements were mainly centred around features I love to see in offline RPGs, like an immense amount of decision-making while developing your character, the extensive storyline or the full voice-over. Now my question is whether that is enough to keep player numbers high and if that is the content MMO-players are seeking nowadays, especially considering the possible pricing like the other MMOs in EA’s portfolio, e.g. “Ultima Online”, “Dark Age of Camelot” and “Warhammer Online”. Each of them not blessed with a large community anymore but still with a monthly fee of around 15$/13€.

Sure, the game will contain more content than the story part but most of the mechanics I have read/heard about I have already seen in some kind of variation in other MMOs. Thus, I do not find variety or improvement when it comes to the every day content aside from the hopefully brilliant RPG-part.

In the case of space combat it is in my opinion a lot worse. I feel taken back to ’93 when “Star Wars: Rebel Assault” when railway space-combat felt innovative and entertaining.

Until now there is no definite release date but according to an interview with Frank Gibeau (President of EA Games) the game will definitely release this year! Well, in the same interview he said that the game has 6 classes. I hope Bioware is aware of both. That may be not that dramatic but when you take a look at his profile at EA’s homepage he states that he is playing the game. O.o ;)

More seriously though, I do hope that does not show how EA as the publisher defines the time frame for the game’s developers and puts them under pressure to release the game even if it may not be complete, polished and balanced. Releasing a game unfinished or cut (imho in the case of EA & Mythic: again!) may reduce the development costs and make you a quick buck but may turn an MMMO into a one day fly at the market despite its potential. Are MMOs not naturally aiming for continuous income, but what if EA or investors could use their margin for this fiscal year?

Another reason to push this game into the market this year could be that the later it gets, the more they would have to place it against Guild Wars 2 and TERA. But I have to say, if I lean back and take a more distant look at the kind of MMO they will be, I do not see one of them as BioWare’s main competitor. Sure, both belong to the MMO-genre but in my opinion TERA will be a niche game in the “western market” due to its Asian style, different controls and overdone sexiness. It probably attracts a different kind of player than SWTOR and should have less impact on sold boxes and monthly income. Guild Wars 2 may attract the same players but as a buy-to-play. If the release dates differ more than a month, many will take a look at both games like I have said in another blog entry or may leave Guild Wars again even if only temporarily to test SWTOR, because you can return spontaneously whenever and for how long you want without the monthly fee. Also Massively has some interesting thoughts about the competition between the these two.

The main competitor I see is Blizzard. But no, not with a meagre patch for WoW with some raid content, instances, a new area or more dailies to keep the playerbase busy.
The largest threat I see rising is Diablo 3. At the first thought that may sound surprising because it’s not sorted into the branch of MMOs but it has many parallels. It’s a time consuming game in which you can easily spend every minute of your free time in for a few months. It has (like Guild Wars 2) only an entry fee.

But as my strongest arguments: it is from Blizzard, it is highly anticipated, and I see many indicators that Activision/Blizzard and EA/BioWare are very concerned about how polished their games are and when they could release the games. So welcome to the release date poker.

If I take a look into my crystal ball and do a bit of rough guesswork I see Diablo 3 being placed against SWTOR would be in so much ways beneficial for Blizzard and could massively hurt EA and the succeeding development of SWTOR. Imagining that about 5% of WoW’s subscribers are bored with the game and craving for a new refreshing time sink or the holy grail in another game like many times before, we would be talking about 250.000 subscribers in the Western market. Not counting in the Eastern market here because the payment models are usually different there.

For Blizzard that may not be that dramatic. The number of subscribers usually fluctuates between patches, but for a new game on the market that is a great deal and could be a solid part of the playerbase. At least, this would be a fine number of sold boxes to please the publisher and investors.

With those 250.000 players, especially in the long run, I see a bigger value than just their bought boxes and paid subs. If a new game does not only want to peak high at release but also wants to maintain a larger amount of players, they have to build and establish a stable and growing community. So it would be beneficial to get as many players as possible which are connected with each other. That’s the point where Blizzard could intervene. They will be losing players but it would be wise to lure them to Diablo 3 to keep them in their Battle.Net.

Blizzard has already stated years ago that the day will come that WoW’s playerbase finally peaks and then starts declining due to players moving on to other games. In the same statement they also mentioned that they hope that this other game will be one of their own ones. So why not do it this time? Yes, we do not know how finished the games really are at the moment and if it is possible for Blizzard to already announce Diablo 3 as finished and that it can be shipped within weeks but if it is, I see no reason why they should not wait until EA makes their move.

Compared to EA, Blizzard has the financial background that they can easily delay the game for months, even the development teams would not have to sit there eating up money. They could polish, balance and optimise the game even more or already start to work on an add-on.

Not an easy environment to release a new MMO in, I admit. One of the biggest selling points I see is the IP and that BioWare may attract a lot of fans because they are trusted for their good RPGs. Also, it’s Star Wars and a science fiction-setting. There is not such a huge number of AAA-MMOs as in the fantasy section. I may guess heavily here and there is absolutely no proof except for my experiences and my personal preferences when I say that I think that the game will have about 1,2 – 1,8 million sold boxes in the first months (which would be more than Warhammer Online, Rift or Aion achieved). Heavily depending on who they are up against, of course.

But after that, I see the game drop to 600.000 – 900.000 after about 6 months like most of the games in the past years did when the MMO-tourists leave, the game turns out to be not like anticipated, friends don’t join in or in the worst case the storyline and RPG-Part is done multiple times and the rest lacks that entertaining quality.

Finally, I have to admit that at the moment I don’t see myself buying this game on the first day, even if I do love Star Wars but I wish to be proven totally wrong and that the game is in fact brilliant because I like BioWare for what they did before they were bought by EA and merged with Mythic. I want to see diversity, creativity and a tough competition between several high quality games on the market.

May the force be with you, BioWare!

Edit: Another article about Star Wars: The Old Republic from Massively.

Why should I buy Guild Wars 2?

Apart from my general enthusiasm about the content that has been announced so far, my main argument about why somebody should be interested in Guild Wars 2 keeps being, simple and mundande: the payment model. I don’t get tired from pointing out that the costs, as long as the game doesn’t turn out to have some major (game) flaws, will make buying this game a “no-brainer”. Guild Wars 2 will keep – as announced – the buy-to-play payment model that they’ve previously established with Guild Wars (official GW2 FAQ – see question #4).

To my mind, if you’re somebody who at least sometimes enjoys the occasional computer game, there’s no reason not to get this title to play it parallel to your favourite MMORPG or as an extra alternative, because there are no recurring costs as is the case with a monthly fee.

One might like to argue that those monthly fees for a pay-to-play MMORPG aren’t too bad. Especially compared to a weekend full of parties and beer or even just going to the movies or playing an offline game whose entertainment value is calculated in hours, this might be true. On the other hand, only a fraction of potentially interested customers are probably paying for three or even more subs.

Most players will – depending on their time and how they spend their money – have to decide how many different games or – even more important for me – which games they want to play. Because of their payment model, ArenaNet doesn’t participate in the usual fight over subscription numbers and rids their players of those decisions.

At least I find myself often enough in the position where I have to decide in advance which MMO I want to play in my free time and which is worth paying the monthly fee for at a given time. Especially, if it’s maybe just a little bit of nostalgia that’d bring me back into a game or a single event, ingame friends, etc. who’d want to see me in a game for an evening or two.

Sounds too good to be true? Possibly…
I am well aware that this payment model, just like others, will not be received positively by everybody and there are different and good reasons for being skeptical. Hence, I’ll have a look at different payment models and their potential advantages and disadvantages in my next posting. Also because of my personal interest in ArenaNet and NCSoft. :)

German version

Edit: If that topic interests you there is a new article at “Massively” about it.