Today we see the publishing of a new Developer’s Blog by Mike Ferguson on the topic of World vs. World.
We have amazing PvE gameplay and intense competitive PvP in Guild Wars 2, but we also offer huge, open-field, server-versus-server warfare the likes of which you’ve never seen. We call it world vs. world or WvW.
Hello, everyone, I’m Mike Ferguson, one of the systems designers here at ArenaNet. I’m here to tell you about one of the most eagerly anticipated aspects of Guild Wars 2: world vs. world! This is a huge game type, and there’s a lot to talk about, so get comfy!
In the blog, Mike gives us an incredible amount of information regarding WvW maps and how things work and what ArenaNet’s philosophy is behind this part of the game. World vs. World is comprised of three different sides against each other. ArenaNet knew right away that they wanted to use three sides instead of the typical two that you see in today’s MMORPGs.
We knew right away that we wanted three teams fighting against one another on a series of huge maps in the Mists (our world vs. world battleground) and that each team would be composed of an entire server full of players. Including three forces in world vs. world acts as an excellent balancing factor, preventing one team from growing too powerful and ruining the competitive balance of the game. Two teams can gang up to counter a more dominant third team, a dynamic that simply isn’t possible with only two opposing factions.
Mike goes on to explain that these maps are some of the largest pieces of territory in the game, full of keeps and towers for guilds to capture, fortify and defend. Each battle lasts two weeks long as the server tallys points every certain interval of time depending on the current status in the Mists.
The best part of this is that after each battle (two weeks long) the server’s points are tallied and then matched up again against similarly ranked servers. This gives the MMORPG world something different: pride of your own server. Long since the bygone days of Everquest where players had a pride of their server, Guild Wars 2 looks to bring that dynamic back. It’s a pretty large leap of magnitude compared to World of Warcraft’s arena rankings, but now your own server will be ranked among all others.
Mike goes on to explain what players will be doing in these battlegrounds. Players will be able to fortify keeps, upgrade their own NPC guards, lay down siege weaponry, hire mercenaries and much more. There is one interesting aspect that we discovered in this blog, and that is the Supply Stat. This stat appears to be a universal number that allows up to repair walls, upgrade fortifications and build siege weapons. Beyond defending keeps and towers, players will have to protect un-fortified Resource Camps and supply lines. Those supply lines are actually NPC caravans that carry supplies out through the map. You’ll have to protect to get the most out of their supplies.
Lastly, like true Guild Wars fashion, all players can participate in WvW where they are boosted to level 80. The only exception will be that lower level players will not have equivalent gear and have all their utility skills available.
There is a ton of details left to explore in the Developers Blog, so make sure you check out the full article now.
LET'S GET SOCIAL