Tomorrows GuildWars beta event isn't the final one

ArenaNet mailed me to ask me to correct an error I made reporting here and on Grimwell.com. I called them and had quite an interesting discussion about the game.

Seems that Fileplanet was trying to produce a bit too much hype when they offered a key to the "final" beta. The beta event that starts tomorrow, on the 7th of January, is *not* the final one. There will be at least one more, in February. Release date is "early 2005", but probably not February as I assumed from the mistaken "final" tag. Beta events will continue every month until release.

GuildWars is a game that I look very much forward to, as it breaks several of the paradigms of the industry. Especially by working without the monthly fee, which should get a lot more people into massive multiplayer online gaming.

Another new approach is that success in GuildWars is not just based on how many hours you played the game, as it is in most other games. Your level is capped at 20, and you can always have only 8 skills on your hotkey bar. That should give players the equal footing needed to do PvP which is balanced and fun. And you can still go questing and adventuring for new skills, and equipment. But these will be more specialized rather than higher level. You end up with more strategic options, but you need the brains to combine them effectively, you aren't simply stronger from having played more. We will see how that works.
- posted by Tobold @ 8:23 PM Permanent Link