Guild Wars 2: Human Week Summary

So, as human week draws to a close - its probably pertinent to look back and see what we've learnt. Wait a minute - you might say - hold on, isn't every week Human Week. Well, yes, I suppose so - but this is Guild Wars 2 Human Week so cool your jets. Take another sip of that wine and I'll go see what we have here:

Day one saw us introduced to some of the ambient audio and conversations we might encounter when we are rampaging through Human territories in John Ryan's article "Against the Wall: Humanity in Guild Wars 2". I am really enthusiastic about what ANet are trying to do here. One of the things I've noticed in my MMO gallivants is that often the main hubs (usually cities and other high traffic areas) are only given life through the existence of a large number of players in one area. For example, in Guild Wars, Kamadan is supposed to be the main city on Istan - if not in Elona itself - but you can't actually see anywhere for any of the people to live, and the NPCs that are there, just mill about or stand static waiting for players to interact with them. This is one of my main gripes about DC Universe Online (honestly, I am getting around to writing that review!), apart from the heroes and villains swooping around the place, the cities feel empty and cold, not actual worlds into which we are plopped, but worlds which we must imagine exist.

Obviously in RPG games there has to be a certain level of suspension of disbelief in order to enjoy them (further than the visceral joy of hacking off a zombie's arm), but one of the most important factors in any game is its ability to immerse the player in a believable world. It is encouraging that ANet have taken a significant chunk of time to introduce players merely to the sounds that they might encounter throughout the game, it speaks of ANet's dedication to the "art" of creating a convincing Universe.

My only concern, and its no biggie, is that every single voice actor appears to be American. I've said it a tonne of times before, I've nothing against American voice actors, but I'd just like a bit of variety in my conversations. I hope the immersion bubble won't be shattered because every character in the game sounds like they fell out of 90210.

Day two; Aaron Coberly addresses his role in the Human character design in: "Character Art in Guild Wars 2 - Designing Humans". I really liked some of the info which came with this blog - mainly I think because it came with some tasty new armour screenshots. Look at that guy on the left - hes a real warrior! Awesome. I also approve of the middle right. Yum.
On top of the screenshots Coberly also revealed (although I believe I've heard this before somewhere) that we've got an extra armour slot on the shoulder; allowing for customisable pauldrons etc. I think all the armour we've seen so far looks fantastic, and considering Aaron and Kristen Perry worked out that with the six interchangeable armour slots and the numerous armour sets that the guys have created there are in excess of six billion different armour combinations, I don't think we'll be without the ability to customise and create some truly unique characters.

Day three; ANet updated the Human info page on GW2.com. I have to say that we didn't see a lot of what we hadn't already seen in this update. For those of us who are up on their lore, a lot of this is just going over what we've already heard and emphasising the whole "courageous underdog" slant ANet are pushing for Humanity.
The video shown below did show us a couple of angles of Divinity's Reach which we hadn't seen before, so it was definately worth its own post:



Day four; this was definitely my favourite blog of the week; Ree Soesby on "The Line of Duty – The Three Military Orders of Kryta".
In this post Ree talks about the tension which festers beneath the shiny exterior of Divnity's Reach. A tension which I believe will be central to the personal storyline of all Human characters (and probably those of all the other races too) when the game is released. Governance in the Human territories is split between three factions: The Seraph, who protect the territories as a whole and guard Divinity's Reach; The Ministry Guard who protect the nobles of Divinity Reach; and the Shining Blade, who are the personal bodyguards to Queen Jenna. It seems that their jurisdictions overlap on a number of issues and they answer to different parties of different ranks. 

The blog post is interspersed with a story involving the murder of a Minister in a poor area of Divinity's reach. Following Lieutenant Serantine through her investigations we see how both the Seraph and The Shining Blade attempt to impose their own power over the investigation. Eventually, Serantine takes her case to Minister Caudecus

"...The Seraph are incompetent, but the queen’s infatuation for that simple-minded captain blinds her to the country’s needs. I will write to Minister Brios’s family and see that they have money for their needs. In this time of trials, we must do all we can for one another. “Nevertheless, Kryta will win through. As we ever have. Just leave everything to me.”

Can't you just imagine that being spoken by Scar from the Lion King? He's definitely a bad'un!

I just want to thank ANet for taking the time to reveal all this information to us. It seems, having seen the news that the game might not be out until 2011 Q4 or later, we'll have a fairly long time to wait until we can actually get our hands on the finished product. As long as when it comes here it blows a hole in my mind with its excellence, then I'll be happy.

The Reasons to be Human: Part 4

Human Armour (presumably medium armour for an adventurer)



The first two days of "Human Week" have revealed a great deal about where ANet are trying to go with the race in Guild Wars 2. I believe one of the great challenges that ANet will face when building GW2 will be making the Human race as appealing as the more innovative races out in the game. When faced with the choice between playing as a Human or a 10ft tall Bear-Norn, its tempting to say there is little contest. I believe the way that ANet are approaching this problem is rather innovative. They've recognised that, visually, it is difficult to make the Humans stand out against the Charr or the Asura; and neither can they make the other races any less striking so as to emphasise the Human's over them. What ANet have done is to emphasise the lore aspect of the Human race; they are seeking to appeal to us as Humans; as people who have played Human's in the first game and who might want to band together and help the downtrodden race of Humanity through the dark age that is Guild Wars 2.

It might be a good idea to give a quick rundown of what has happened to Humanity in the intervening years between the end of the first game and the start of the second: *WARNING - the following probably contains spoilers to both Ghosts of Ascalon and Edge of Destiny*

Since the destruction of the great Destroyer at the end of GW: Eye of the North, a number of changes have occurred both physically and socially throughout Tyria. Gwen and Keiran Thackery have established Ebonhawke - a fortress in Ascalon. A number of Elder Dragons have awoken and wrecked their way through the lands, shifting boundaries and forcing races into uncomfortably close quarters (driving the Asura onto the surface, forcing the Norn down from the Northern Shiverpeaks etc).

The interior of Ascalon City following the foefire.

The Charr have all but wiped humanity out of the kingdom of Ascalon. With Charr at his gates, as a last stand, the Human king Adelbern invoked the "foefire" - a terrible magic which killed every living thing for miles around - both Charr and Human. Whilst it wiped out the invading forces, the foefire brought the inflicted Humans back to the mortal plane as ghosts to stand guard over their kingdom for eternity. Until the events of Ghosts of Ascalon, the city of Ascalon had lain deserted save for the army of phantoms which haunted its halls.

The fortress of Ebonhawke now stands as the last living Human settlement in Ascalon, in the intervening years between GW1 and GW2 it stood under seige from Charr forces. It was never broke. That is, until the Elder Dragon Kralkatorrik woke in the Charr homelands, and flew North. His flight burned the Dragonbrand onto the land in its wake; tranforming land and creature into monstrous crystal reflections of their former selves. Tranformed by the Elder Dragon's magic, a clan of Ogres (already pissed off as Logan Thackery had killed one of their family), decimated the seiging Charr and stormed the fortress themselves. They broke the walls and their crystalised hyena pets tore through the Human ranks. Thackery, called to the aid of the fortress by Queen Jenna, used his influence with the Charr Blood Legion to invoke the help of the Charr prisoners in the dungeons of Ebonhawke. With the aid of the Charr prisoners, the Humans were able to repel the Ogres and retake the fortress. On the back of this victory, Queen Jenna was able to broker a peace between Humanity and Charr.



The Elder Dragon Zhaitan rising from Orr.

With the rise of the Elder Dragon Zhaitan (the main antagonist of GW2) the lost kingdom of Orr rose from the sea; along with an army of undead pirates and sea creatures. The result was the flooding and subsequent evacuation of the city of Lion's Arch (formerly the main Human settlement in GW1). It is only now that people have begun to trickle back into the city. Lion's Arch is now a haven for pirates of all races, governed under its own kind of martial law.

The final great Human settlement is Divinity's Reach in Kryta. It lies on the Divinity Coast in the province of Shaemoor. Following the decimation of Ascalon and the flooding of Lion's Arch, Divinity's Reach is now the main hub for both displaced Ascalonians and Krytans; as well as a meeting place for those who were able to get out of Cantha before it shut itself off, and those who were stuck on the Tyria side of the Elder Dragon who now cuts off Elona from the rest of the world. The lands surrounding Divinity's Reach is besieged by Centaurs and other opponents, and so is guarded by the elite guard - The Seraph - lead by Logan Thackery. Divinity's Reach is where most of the Human side of the story will be played out in Guild Wars 2, from what we've seen in the videos; it is completely stunning.

Divinity's Reach

With all this crazy-shizzno going down on the Human front, I think ANet are trying to encourage players to coralle together and defend their homelands. They've certainly tried to develop some strong characters and histories to take over from GW1 and GW:B (including the two current novels) to the new game. Interestingly, in most forum polls, the Humans don't come last in the race people are planning to play (that particular accolade tends to go the the Asura). So, it appears that ANets tactics are working. It will be interesting to see what threads the final novel in the GoA - EoD series weaves into the lore of Guild Wars 2.

Phew, thats a lot. In fact, that might be enough for today! I will give a run down of the implications of ANet's Human Week on Saturday when we've got all the info. For now, its all looking gravy-baby. I can't wait to see the new video tour of the Human lands this evening, particularly as it's all penned by Jeff Grubb.

ps. The title of this post is inspired by Ian Dury and the Blockheads. There are no Parts 1 through 3, don't go looking for them.