ArenaNet Class of 2012 Internship Program Now Accepting Applications

Jon Peters on the New Gamescom Demo

I wasn't expecting one blog entry today so two is an even bigger surprise.

That internship sounds super cool!

Player vs. Player - Jon Peters Talks PvP

The Battle of Khylo – Jonathan Sharp on PvP

These blogs were actually posted out of sequence and on the same day, the overview was posted second instead of first and not "earlier in the week".

New trailer: http://www.guildwars2.com/en/media/videos/ mixes old and new footage. My favorite's norn in snow leopard form.

Making the Battle of Kyhlo

TowerTalk gamescom 2011: Ree Soesbee zum Thema Lore in Guild Wars 2 interview with Guild Wars 2 lore expert, Ree Soesbee. This is for a German web site so the introduction is in German but the interview is in English.

Thanks Guybrush

Currently when you create a character you after selecting race, gender, profession and after customizing appearance you fill out a biography. If you don't want to make the choices you can let the game pick answers at random.

The first question is different for every profession.

Elementalist chooses a favorite element, air, fire, earth or water.

Warrior chooses between two helmets or no helmet.

Ranger chooses first pet, available choices are determined by your character's race.

Necromancer chooses a mask.

Guardian choses between a cloak, a mantle and a scarf.

Thief chooses which is more important, Anonymity, Determination or Subterfuge.

Engineer choses most useful tool.

The second question is the same for everybody, do you solve problems with Charm, Dignity or Ferocity. As you play the game decisions you make will add or subtract from these three.

The next three questions are based on your character's race.

Asura are asked which college they belong to Statics, Dynamics or Synergetics. Then what their first invention was: VALET-123 Golem, Transatmospheric Converter (weather machine) or Infinity Ball (sounds like "Magic 8-Ball" toy. The final question is who is your mentor, there are four possibilities.

Charr are asked which legion they belong to, Iron, Ash or Blood. Second question is which member of their warband is their favorite sparring partner. Final question is what was your father, loyal solider, Flame Legion Shaman or rebel.

Humans are asked what their social status is, what their biggest regret is and which deity is most important.

Norn are asked what is most important quality of a hero, what happened at the last drinking party and which spirit appeared to them in a vision.

Sylvari are asked what happened in the Dream, what is the most important of Ventari's teachings and what time of day were they born.

According to an Arenanet programmer interviewed at Gamescom Guild Wars 2 will come with 5 character slots. That's enough to try out every race but not every profession. Extra slots will be available for purchase in the online store. This is similar to Guild Wars 1.

I plan to start with sylvari elementalist, asura warrior, human guardian, norn ranger and maybe charr necromancer.

Guybrush, can you not change professions once you finish creating a character?

Nope.

No major news from Gamescom or PAX have been some minor changes.

Elite skills now take 150-180 seconds to recharge not 720 (12 minutes)!
Each race has one set of armor specific to it. I'm glad of this.
Sylvari's time of birth will not effect personal story but will effect look of home instance.
Ranger weapon skills now give some benefit to ranger's pet in addition to harming foes.
Joining a guild on one character gives all your characters option to support the guild or not.
Characters can join more than one guild.
No guild halls at launch. Will come later.
A Transmutation Stone (allow character to keep look of old armor or weapon but gain stats of new armor or weapon) will be available in game for Karma. (Many people were afraid they'd only be available for real money in online store.)



Condtions now:
Bleeding - lose health over time
Blind - next attack misses
Burning - lose health over time
Chilled - (formerly Frozen) move 1/3 speed, cannot dodge, recharging skills take longer to recharge
Crippled - move slower, unable to dodge
Fear - target runs from source (original only necromancer could cause fear, now warrior and thief can as well)
Immobilized - movement hindered, cannot dodge
Poison - lose health over time
Vulnerability - take more damage
Weakness - reduces damage dealt by 20%

Conditions are always negative, there are skills to remove conditions


The opposite of the negative conditions are the positive Boons (replacing Guild Wars 1's enchantments):

Aegis - block the next attack (at this time only Guardians can provide this)
Fury - increase chance to land a Critical Hit
Might - increase damage
Protection - improves your defenses
Regeneration - healing over time
Swiftness - increased movement speed
Vigor - increased health

There are skills that can remove boons.


There are other skill effects some of which are positive and some of which are negative.
Daze - interrupts and makes skills unusable
Float - underwater only, target is forced up to the surface
Invulnerability - target cannot be damaged or take conditions (rallied characters receive this for 1 second)
Knockback - target pushed back and interrupted
Knockdown - target is knocked to the grown unable to move or use skills for a short time
Launch - target interrupted and flung into the air
Leap - some skills cause character to move closer to target for melee
Pull - some skills pull the user and target closer together for melee
Rejuvenation - gain health
Sink - underwater only, target sinks
Smiting - every fifth attack causes burning (in GW1 smiting prayers were monks skills that caused holy damage, at this point only Guardian is known to smite)
Stability - current effect unknown, most likely prevents knockdown
Stealth - character becomes temporarily invisible as long as not attacking (at this point only Thief and Ranger have stealth skills)
Stun - target interrupted, immobilized and incapacitated for a short time

At this point only stun is known to be removable. There are traits which block some effects altogether.

Well, I'd want to be invisible and invincible

When in stealth mode you can't be targeted but you can still be hit by skills that effect an area rather than a single target if you are in the area. Best bet is to keep moving. This won't work for rangers though. The ranger skill requires that you and your pet don't move. As soon as you move you're visible again. A thief can move while invisible and steal things without breaking stealth but attacking will break stealth.
If you get hit by an area of effect skill while in stealth you'll take damage and become temporarily visible.

A thief skill Blinding Powder blinds foes in the area and puts allies into stealth mode. I don't know whether allies stay invisible if they move.


I think the new down skills are interesting. Every player character has "Help Me" which calls allies attention to them plus 3 skills that are unique to their profession.

Elementalist:
Discharge Lightning - hits foe with lightning
Grasping Earth - immobilizes foe
Vapor Form - ele turns into a vapor and can move, normally downed characters cannot move

Engineer:
Throw Junk - throw junk causing random condition
Grapple Line - throw line to drag foe to you
Booby Trap - takes revenge on foe who takes you from downed to defeated by blowing up

Guardian:
Wrath - zaps foe with light ray
Purifying Light - blinds foes, removes a condition from allies
Symbol of Judgment - heals allies and burns foes

Necromancer:
Life Leech - steal foes health to heal self
Fetid Ground - poisons and chills foes
Fear - foe flees in fear

Ranger:
Throw Dirt - blinds foe
Call Companion - raises you pet and calls it to you
Lick Wounds - pet licks your wounds to rally you

Thief:
Venomous Knife - throw a poisoned knife
Smoke Bomb - drop a smoke bomb, enter stealth mode
Trail of Knives - throw knife hitting multiple foes

Warrior:
Throw Rock - longer you hold the skill down before releasing the more damage it does
Hammer Toss - causes knockdown
Vengeance - rally and fight normal for a brief time, when time ends you are defeated

For underwater there are drowned skills but most of them have not been revealed yet.

Elementalist unknown

Engineer unknown

Guardian:
Shackle - shackle foe to cripple
Reveal the Depths - unclear, some kind of area of effect skill
Renewing Current - escape to the surface

Necromancer:
Feeding Frenzy - summons a school of undead fish to attack foe
Death Curse - poison yourself and your foe
Life Leech - same as downed skill

Ranger:
Thrash - kick foe and retreat
Throw Knife - throw knife at your foe
Lick Wounds - same as downed

Thief unknown

Warrior unknown

I love Throw Junk! Our house could supply a lifetime supply.

A Detaliled Look at Lich Form - a PAX attendees impressions of one of the Necromancer elite skills, Lich Form.