We take a look at one of the most innovative MMO's on the horizon

The MMO genre has come a long way in the past twenty years. What really started with pioneers like Ultima Online, Everquest and Merdian 59 was only ever really realised in the mainstream space come the turn of the millennium with World of Warcraft. But with its arrival, one could argue that instead of really trying to push the envelope and innovate what MMO's could do, development within the genre focused on trying to tackle Blizzard's Beast instead.
 

The Charr, a very war-like race. My kind of people

One particular developer however seems to be trying to buck this trend. ArenaNet, an subsidiary of NCSoft who created Guild Wars in 2005, are one of the few who've actually tried to experiment with what one can do with the genre, and now they're back with a sequel. Where the first game really only focused on tight-knit co-operative online gameplay (which earned it the classification as a 'CORPG'), Guild Wars 2 tries to expand on things and bring it more into the mainstream MMO space. Their trademark instanced content will still be there, but will be spread about the larger persistent game world in the form of dynamic events or scenarios that, depending on the outcome, can drastically change the situation.

These dynamic events are one of three main areas that ArenaNet have been focusing on for this game, the other two being personal stories and visceral combat. Narrative has always been important for the Guild Wars team, and you could almost compare them to Bioware for their devotion to story-telling and lore. In Guild Wars 2, they want to try and take that a step further by properly incorporating a personal story into the larger fiction. You get to lay the foundation for this during character creation, but all through the game it's reported that you will be faced with choices, choices that will affect how your own tale plays out, and how that tale fits in with the wider world.

This is helped by individual instances, such as the 'home district' in the major city, where only you exist and where you can carry out player specific quests (although usual grouping rules apply also). Another is full character voice-overs for your character. A page out of Bioware's book perhaps, it shows ArenaNet are at least trying to keep up with the competition. They've not gone the whole nine yards though - there are no dialogue choices in this game, but the VO's help tell and explore the narrative of Guild Wars 2, both of your own personal quest, and of the world at large.
 

Whilst probably not exactly like this, a dodging mechanic is supposed to feature in comabt

The other major point is combat, especially making it feel natural and visceral. Guild Wars 2 is a mature IP, in a world as gritty and real as even Dragon Age. Further to that though, they've really tried to open up and expand combat, and combat scenarios with interactive items - from mortars and torrents, to quest/event specific items that you need to complete objectives. In the demonstration we were shown, a group of players were trying to put out a barn fire that was started by some bandits. The event specific item was only a simply water bucket, but when you picked it up your skill bar changed to reflect the 'special' nature of the item. Not only did you have to run around putting out fires , but you had to do it whilst fighting off bandits. Only few games can truly give that sense of desperation in fighting, that sense of needing to fight on in order to complete your goal, and Guild Wars 2 looks like it could be one of them. This also highlighted the dynamic events system showing off features like scaling to fit the number of people involve, and what happens if you succeed or fail the event.



If anything though, Guild Wars 2 is certainly the best looking MMO we've seen so far. You can tell they're part of the same company that produced Aion, and whilst the artistic styles of the two games are very clear and distinct, we wouldn't be surprised if there had been some technology swapping or something. Along with the dynamic events and other such mechanics, the visuals really help bring the world alive on the screen. The Guild Wars franchise has always been known for its lush artwork and high quality concepts, but with the new engine they're using, ArenaNet have boasted that their game can finally live up to the concepts, and even match it in some instances.

Like Guild Wars, the sequel will follow a free-to-play model that relies on micro-transactions and possibly episodic content as well, although nothing has been confirmed yet. This is rather a bold move considering parent company NCSoft hasn't had the easiest of times lately, between settling a court case over technology used in an MMO, to Richard Garriott suing them for unfair dismissal. The company has spent a lot of money on things unrelated to games development, so it's good to see these issue haven't trickled down the production line.
 

It's 250 years later, and all is not right with the world...

There's a reason this game made it into your 'Best in Show' article for this year's GamesCom. Whilst we have yet to go hands-on with the game, what we've been shown and what we've heard is very impressive. As Jeff Grubb said to us himself during a presentation, they're not trying to make the best MMO, they're trying to make the best game, and it's this out-of-the box thinking that should do wonders for the game and the genre as a whole. It's not expected until 2011, but keep an eye out for a beta sometime soon.

Most Anticipated Feature: It will be interesting to see how the dynamic events play out, and how they fit in with the flow of the game.