Make the singing stop!!!

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/March_2012:_State_of_the_Game#
Good read for Gw2

Oh, those rascals.

Yes it was quite an interesting read. I'm especially interested in the following excerpt as software engineer. Rather curious as to the solution they came up with. Wiki: "So, when will the game finally ‘be ready?’ It’s been ‘getting ready’ for many years and I suspect a large portion of the gaming population thinks it will be the next big vaporware. You could make changes to improve it indefinitely, but when will ArenaNet decide that enough is enough and release it?" Colin: "Well, to be honest; the official release will have to be slightly postponed due to rebalancing issues with the Elder Dragons. Now, I know that this news will cause some form of shock but please hear us out first. It’s important that we get this news across clearly and completely." "When we first designed Zhaitan—the main antagonist of the initial release—we wanted to make it a real challenge to bring Zhaitan down, only possible through a combination of personal storyline(s) and limiting the amount of players per fight. We soon realized that this approach clashes with our ideals of having a persistent, open world. From that moment on we have started to explore other options. We’re redesigning the genre altogether after all, this no less. We have decided to restructure, but mainly rebalance the Elder Dragons." "We wanted to make players experience the true prowess of the Elder Dragons. These rebalancing processes aspire exactly that. We don’t want every clash with an Elder Dragon to feel anticipated, expected, clearly a choice of AI to act as best as it can be programmed. Whilst the first time fighting a specific Elder Dragon it will obviously be unique and unpredictable, but after that the battle would just be the same thing all over again; there is nothing new in a second battle, compared to a first." "And our solution isn’t one you’d expect of a professional team like ours, or anyone’s. Our solution surpasses AI completely. We have chosen to exclude AI from the battle with Elder Dragons. Every battle with an Elder Dragon will be fully open, persistent. Everyone can interject with the battle at any time, much like any dynamic event. But the difference with dynamic events is the fact that the objective isn’t controlled by an AI script. The objective is controlled by an actual player. Or rather, an actual member of our team. We’ve stationed various team members to take a shot at playing the Elder Dragon Zhaitan from release day onward. There is no roster we’re giving out, so you’ll never know who is playing Zhaitan at any given time. But in the end, you’re never fighting a computer. We’ve turned the team you support into the team you might end up despising, because they will be your main antagonist soon."

» Edited on: 2012-04-01 23:30:34

» Edited on: 2012-04-01 23:31:10

I would recommend reading the top of the page ;) It has an enlightening view that you might be interested in hehehe

Aw, I figured Arena Net had a hand in it, they are well known to enjoy that time of the year.

So the devs will each be controlling the elder dragon at one point in time? And you have to beat them, not some previously programmed AI? WAY TOO COOL I might actually do this PvE for once. On a different note, "Our release is still scheduled for early-mid 2013..." Wha? Oh my, that's a LONG time from now. So much for 3rd or 4th quarter 2012.

» Edited on: 2012-04-04 14:47:28

omg omg omg omg omg omg squeeeeeee!

Those Arenanet people are pure evil. We have still to wait almost another year for the release, and they give us such tasty morsels to make that wait all the harder. Developer controlled Elder Dragons! Two more classes! You have to wonder what else they've still got up their sleeves to tantalise us even further over the course of the next year.

Yes it is exciting what will come out a year from now, in case you missed it, April 1 :) I fully expect the game at that point to be self playing and *pay* us to play heheheh

Hey guys (and I think Saren alluded to this and I finally JUST realized this). This was an April Fool's joke. So no two extra scholar classes. Probably no dragon's being controlled by the devs. And probably not an 2013 release date. Hopefully that means late 2012 is still possible. :) Hooray!

» Edited on: 2012-04-05 07:44:25

I was going to make a comment about them doing Beta Weekends and that usually happens closer to a launch date than a year away... so hopefully that was part of the April Fools joke. I know I have TSW releasing this summer which I can't wait to play but Gaiscioch isn't, so I was hoping to be back in the family fold by at least Christmas - not next summer :(

I don't care when it releases so long as it's done right. Way I see it right now ArenaNet is building our new home. I don't want them to halfass it and have the roof blow off the first storm. This is where I hope to keep us for several years and quite possibly the next decade. I don't want bandades and broken promises holding that house together. Kinda hoping sooner than later but i'd rather later than have it done incorrectly.

Well - Pre-orders start April 10th - that usually indicates a 6 month or less window to release - imo - but it could be as late as Christmas. But Oct. or Nov. would be great... however I agree with you about it being done right - but I think most devs want that also. I have to hope with the track record GW has - that GW2 will be right there with them.

Good April Fools joke that one. I thought I was being diligent by noting the "This page was last modified on 2 April 2012, at 03:04." note at the very end... but that modification was probably to add the "This is an April Fools Joke" at the top, which I completely missed. :D

I'm right there with you on that Fog. I intend to play there with the family for a good long time. I've played many games over the years but very few have actually lasted the test of time. EQ, CoH and LOTRO have been the ones I've played longest (as mainstream games) After playing FFXIV (both beta and live when it was initially released) I can tell you just how badly a game can go wrong ;P I want to play it when its good and ready.. not wait 1-2 years after release for them to rerelease it cause they messed up so badly (including having to change out near the entire development team) I do kinda hope that its this year though.

The official word from my contact is the release date is "when its done" that's what the devs are being told. They want the game to be perfect. That's a smart play imo. In the age of halfass releases games like rift and gw2 are rare.

Though there is a limit to how "perfect" an mmo can be. At some point during production, you have to release it otherwise other mmo's will have moved on with your ideas faster than you have. That said, I have faith in Arenanet. All their moves/work thus far have been well thought out and planned. More faith than I've ever had in Blizzard (WoW) or Warhammer (Mystic/EA).

I'm still a little on the fence about preordering this. I enjoyed GW1 as long as I played it but lost interest and moved to EVE Online. What I've read if this so far makes it seem pretty good. I have to admit, the no monthly fee thing has my ears up as well. If a lot of the family plays then I'll most likely give it a shot at least. It would be nice to start an MMO from scratch though!