Muffincat
07-19-2010, 03:29 PM
So, the game's not getting released until the end of 2010/beginning of 2011 (though I assume it will probably take longer), but I am getting so excited for this!
I will get you all excited, too ;D
This thread will have everything you want to know about GW2 for those of you who are too lazy to look it up.
For starters, there will be 5 playable races:
Sylvari:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/sylvari/sylvari-02.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/sylvari/sylvari-03.jpg
I am a big fan of leaves for hair. :P
Norn:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/norn/norn-03.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/norn/norn-01.jpg
Picture 3:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/norn/norn-02.jpg
(They can morph into animals)
Charr:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/charr/charr-01.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/charr/charr-02.jpg
Charrrrr <3
Asura:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/asura/asura-02.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/asura/asura-01.jpg
Human:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/human/human-02.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/human/human-03.jpg
There will be eight possible professions:
[Currently only four have information released about them - I will update as they release more]
Elementalist:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/ele/gw081.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/ele/elementalist-meteor-shower.jpg
Picture 3:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/ele/elementalist-churning-earth.jpg
Information:
The elementalist has four different elemental attunements: fire, air, water, and earth. You can apparently attune to any of these at any time, unlike the original Guild Wars, and they each have specific qualities (obviously):
Fire:
Does damage to multiple enemies at once. By attuning to fire, anyone who touches the elementalist is hurt by flame damage.
Air:
Deals high damage to specific targets. Nearby enemies are continuously struck by lightning.
Water:
Focuses less on damage than enemies' movement -- freezes people, creates slippery ice, etc. Nearby allies receive continuous healing.
Earth:
Heavily defensive. Apparently can do things like turn flesh to stone, or cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. By attuning to earth, magical protection is automatically given to the elementalist.
Spell Types:
Glyphs:
Increase damage, range, and duration of spells.
Signets:
Provide an ongoing benefit to the caster, but can also "be activated for greater effect."
Conjure Spells:
Summon useful items or weapons that the caster or other party members can use.
Area Spells:
AOE spells that do crazy things.
Weapons:
"Scepter (Main Hand) — Scepter skills specialize in close range combat.
Dagger (Main Hand) — Main hand daggers are fast and focus on medium range spells.
Staff (Two Handed) — Staves are slow casting long range weapons.
Dagger (Off Hand) — Off hand daggers specialize in powerful medium range abilities.
Focus (Off Hand) — Skills on a focus are powerful close range abilities."
You can also watch some of the skills:
Elementalist | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/elementalist/)
Warrior:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/warrior/gw2-warrior-006.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/warrior/gw2-warrior-005.jpg
Information:
Warriors are pretty familiar to most of us :P Warriors in GW2 gather adrenaline as they fight, which increases damage output with every attack, and powers up a "burst skill," which is a powerful attack that varies on weapon set, and uses all adrenaline. A warrior's play style is mostly determined by the weapon they use.
Weapons:
Sword:
Quick and agile; causes bleeding. Main hand or offhand (or both).
Axe:
Builds adrenaline quickly; powerful spike attacks. Main hand or offhand (or both).
Hammer:
Area attacks; stagger enemies. Two-handed.
Mace:
Stun attacks; leaves foes susceptible to further blows. Main hand or offhand (or both).
Great Sword:
Area of effect attacks. Two-handed.
Longbow:
Light arrows on fire for AOE damage. Two-handed.
Rifle:
Single-target ranged weapon. Two-handed.
Skill Types
Stances:
Drain energy, but give some sort of enhancement.
Chains:
A set of three skills that share one slot, so you don't have to use up three slots. They chain together, obviously.
Banners:
Used to buff allies. Can be picked up and carried around, or placed in the ground.
Shouts:
Affect a large area, give bonuses to allies or debuff enemies.
Charge Skills:
Some skills have different power levels - the longer you charge them, the more damage they do.
Warrior | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/warrior/)
Ranger:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/ranger/rangersgroup1.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/ranger/spreadshot1.jpg
Information:
Rangers are hunters, and can charm animals. In GW2, they are able to have 3 pets - though normally only one is allowed out at a time (I wonder what the exceptions are...) A pet's stats are based on the level of the player. There are twelve types of pets, which are either terrestrial, amphibious, or aquatic (the game will apparently have some underwater components - and you can tame sharks ;D). Pets will eventually be able to have four ability slots.
Skill Types:
Traps:
Pretty self-explanatory - an enemy enters a trap and triggers it.
Spirits:
Summon a nature spirit that has a certain area of effect for whatever the spirit does, such as buffing allies.
Weapons:
Main Hand: Sword, Axe
Off Hand: Axe, Dagger, Torch, Warhorn
Two-Handed: Greatsword, Longbow, Shortbow
Ranger | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/ranger/)
Necromancer:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/necromancer/necromancer03.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/necromancer/necromancer01.jpg
Picture 3:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/necromancer/necromancer02.jpg
Information:
Necromancers were one of my favorite classes in Guild Wars. :)
"A necromancer is a practitioner of the dark arts who summons the dead, wields the power of lost souls, and literally sucks the lifeblood of the enemy. A necromancer feeds on life force, which he can use to cheat death or bring allies back from the brink.
A necromancer feeds on death and decay. Life force is the energy that a necromancer uses to extend his own life. Using specific skills, a necromancer builds up life force by attacking and killing enemies. Rather than going into a downed state when he runs out of health, a necromancer automatically activates the Death Shroud ability. A necromancer can continue fighting in the ghostly Death Shroud form until he either runs out of life force or he gets a kill, rallying back into his own corpse."
Special Skills/Spell Types:
Wells: Wells are area-of-effect spells that create a certain effect at a specific location - for example, healing allies within a specified location over a period of time.
Minions:: Necromancers can summon different kinds of undead minions to help them out in battle. Necros that focus on this are typically called "Minion Masters" or MMs in Guild Wars, and it's awesome when they get a ton of minions following them around everywhere, killing things.
Marks: Necromancers can place marks, which are ground-targeted spells with various effects.
Fear: Fear is a condition (that can be removed) which forces another character to run from a necromancer for a short duration.
Weapons:
Main Hand: Axe, Dagger, Scepter
Off Hand: Dagger, Focus, Warhorn
Two-Handed: Staff
Life Force:
"Life force is a special type of energy used by a necromancer. Once he reaches a certain life force threshold, a necromancer can activate Death Shroud (see below), entering a spirit form and leaving his body behind. Each of his weapon sets have skills that give a necromancer life force, and he gains an even larger amount of life force for kills that happen nearby. Finally, there are utility skills that build up life force, like Ghost Armor, a skill that improves a necromancer's armor and adds life force every time he takes damage"
Death Shroud:
"Death Shroud is a special ability--usable by a necromancer at any time--that utilizes his life force as a secondary health bar. Instead of entering a downed state when his health is reduced to zero, a necromancer automatically activates the Death Shroud ability and assumes a spectral form. In Death Shroud, a necromancer has a number of special skills. For example, a necromancer can summon a shadow fiend, a special minion unique to this form. With the ability to tap into Death Shroud, necromancers are certainly one of the most durable professions in Guild Wars 2."
For more information on the necromancer: Necromancer | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/necromancer/)
Guardian:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/guardian/guardian05.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/guardian/guardian01.jpg
Picture 3:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/guardian/guardian04.jpg
Information:
The guardian is a profession that uses "virtues" to combat enemies and protect allies. They have three virtues:
Justice: The guardian's attacks burn enemies
Courage: The guardian can "shrug off even a mighty blow"
Resolve: The guardian passively regenerates health
The guardians also have skill types:
Spirit Weapons:
Like the dervishes in Guild Wars, the Guardian can summon spirit weapons, which cannot be attacked by foes, and have certain abilities.
Symbols:
The guardian can place symbols on the ground, where they affect either allies or enemies.
Wards:
Guardians can create wards on the ground, which allow allies to move freely, but block enemies from passing through.
Aegis:
This is accessible through the virtue of Courage, and is a removable boon that blocks the next attack.
More about the Guardian here: Guardian | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/guardian/)
Thief:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/thief/thief01.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/thief/thief05.jpg
Picture 3:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/thief/thief03.jpg
Information:
Thieves can steal, go stealth, and have "Initiative points" to use instead of a recharge rate. They have ten points to use, and get one point back every second. Their skills also change depending on the weapon and off-hand you have equipped.
Skill Types:
Stealth: can disappear, and if they are damaged, the invisibility will temporarily be broken. It becomes broken when the thief attacks.
Shadow Stepping: allows them to disappear at one location and arrive at another
Traps: self-explanatory :P
Stealing does not steal an item from the enemy - it generates an environmental-based weapon depending on where you are!
a note on dual skills:
"Dual Skills are special skills that thieves acquire in slot 3 of their weapon bar that are based on both weapons they are wielding. A dual skill is determined by both main hand and offhand weapons, and can vary depending on the order. For example, a thief wielding a pistol main hand with dagger offhand (Shadow Strike) will have a different dual skill than a thief wielding a dagger main hand and pistol offhand (Shadow Shot). The shortbow is the one exception to this rule; it does not have a dual skill."
for more:
Thief | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/thief/)
What Makes Guild Wars 2 Different from Other MMOs?
There are so many articles on the GW2 website that talk about how epic this game will hopefully be. They are trying incredibly hard to break out from the mold that MMOs have been put into, and trying really different things.
For instance, there will be no "Healer" class:
Simple systems like this, along with cross-profession combos, and the dedicated healing skill slot, help free players from the MMORPG shackles, and let us break the mold even more. We're making players more self sufficient, but are also providing appealing ways for them to effortlessly work together to create a more inspired moment-to-moment experience. That is why Guild Wars 2 does not have a dedicated healing class.
Everyone take a deep breath. It's going to be OK.
We have lots of people in our studio that enjoyed playing monks in Guild Wars and healers in other games. We examined what it was about the healer archetypes that people really enjoyed, and we took a look at what it was about those archetypes that made the game less enjoyable. Then we created professions to appeal to those types of players.
We keep hearing other MMO developers espousing the "holy trinity" of DPS/ heal/tank with such reverence, as if this is the most entertaining combat they have ever played. Frankly, we don't like sitting around spamming "looking for healer" to global chat. That feels an awful lot like preparing to have fun instead of having fun.
Don't belittle the SUPPORT role by calling it heal. Healing is the least dynamic kind of support there is. It is reactive instead of proactive. Healing is for when you are already losing. In Guild Wars 2 we prefer that you support your allies before they take a beating. Sure, there are some healing spells in Guild Wars 2, but they make up a small portion of the support lines that are spread throughout the professions. Other kinds of support include buffs, active defense, and cross-profession combinations.
Full article: Healing and Death | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/combat/healing-death/)
Personal Stories:
One of the challenges of a massively-multiplayer game is that in being inclusive to a vast number of people, it loses a lot of the personal interaction that makes single-player RPGs so much fun. When you're looking at the games on the store shelf, it seems you have only two options - a game that you can play with your friends, or a game that has a satisfying personal story. The Guild Wars 2 design team believes that a game should have both.
When you first build a character in the world of Guild Wars 2, you are faced with many questions. What race will you be? What profession? Most MMOs ask that much, and the answers are fairly straightforward. But Guild Wars 2 takes character creation a step beyond. It offers the player an opportunity to go deeper, with another roster of questions designed to develop a character's personality. These comprise a character's 'Biography,' and cover relevant parts of the character's history as well as their hopes for the future and the story they will experience.
A character's biography will influence their storyline immediately. Once you have created your character's race, class, and gender, you may choose your physical appearance - and there are a ton of options! From there, you are offered a chance to answer several detailed questions about your character's personality, history, and background.
. . .
In order to develop your character's personality, the biography also has questions that are applicable to all races and classes. If you describe your character as intimidating and unfriendly, the reactions of NPCs will be different than if you choose to portray yourself as charming and kind. If you are simply making an alt character to see if you enjoy a class or race, you can choose 'random selection,' and these questions will be instantly filled out for you. But if you take a moment and answer, your character's story will be tailored to meet your interests, and match your vision of the person you have created within the world of Tyria.
Dynamic Events (Very impressive):
Traditional quest systems involve walking up to a character who usually has an exclamation point or question mark hovering over their head and talking to them. From here, you get a massive wall of text hardly anyone reads that describes a horrible or totally mundane thing going on in the world that you need to help with. You run off, complete this task, then return and talk to this character again to receive another wall of text and a reward. Traditional quest systems rely on these blocks of quest text to tell you what is happening in the world; this is just an outdated form of storytelling.
In Guild Wars 2, our event system won't make you read a huge quest description to find out what's going on. You'll experience it by seeing and hearing things in the world. If a dragon is attacking, you won't read three paragraphs telling you about it, you'll see buildings exploding in giant balls of fire, and hear characters in the game world screaming about a dragon attack. You'll hear guards from nearby cities trying to recruit players to go help fight the dragon, and see huge clouds of smoke in the distance, rising from the village under siege.
By building a world where you see and hear the experiences, Guild Wars 2 will evolve the MMORPG genre by making a game world that feels truly alive. The core of this evolution is our event system, which allows the world to dynamically change based on actions and decisions made by the players. A single player decision can cascade across a zone, changing the direction of a chain of events until they dramatically alter the content played by players in a map.
In traditional MMOs, when a quest is completed it has no real effect on the game world. You receive your reward and then move on, looking for the next quest to do. The world appears no better or worse for your actions. In GW2, the outcome of every event will directly affect the game world around you.
Traditional MMO quest systems will send multiple players off to kill a boss. One player kills the boss and gets the loot. The rest of the players have to stand around and wait their turn for the boss to re-spawn so they can kill it and get credit for it. You don't want other players around you because they're stealing your kills and slowing your rate of achievement. MMOs are supposed to be about hundreds, if not thousands of players, playing together in a community, not putting them in the same world and then pushing them apart!
The event system in Guild Wars 2 is designed to specifically address this problem. All players that fully participate in an event are rewarded for doing so; everyone who helps kill a monster or blow up an enemy catapult will get credit for doing so. There is no kill stealing and no quest camping. Everyone works together towards the common goal of the event and everyone is rewarded for doing so.
Full article here: Dynamic Events Overview | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/dynamic-events/dynamic-events-overview/)
*phew*
I cut so much information out of this thread; THERE IS SO MUCH. If you want to find out more, definitely check out the website, which I linked to many times. If they pull this game off, it is going to be INCREDIBLE. I am so excited. I will also keep updating this as more information comes out. I hope some of you get at least some information from this giant text wall. Tried to make it as friendly to you lazy readers as possible :P
Links:
Official site: Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/)
Hall of Monuments [Guild Wars/GW2 Reward Calculator]: Hall of Monuments | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/hall-of-monuments/)
Videos: Videos | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/media/videos/)
I will get you all excited, too ;D
This thread will have everything you want to know about GW2 for those of you who are too lazy to look it up.
For starters, there will be 5 playable races:
Sylvari:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/sylvari/sylvari-02.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/sylvari/sylvari-03.jpg
I am a big fan of leaves for hair. :P
Norn:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/norn/norn-03.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/norn/norn-01.jpg
Picture 3:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/norn/norn-02.jpg
(They can morph into animals)
Charr:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/charr/charr-01.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/charr/charr-02.jpg
Charrrrr <3
Asura:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/asura/asura-02.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/asura/asura-01.jpg
Human:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/human/human-02.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/human/human-03.jpg
There will be eight possible professions:
[Currently only four have information released about them - I will update as they release more]
Elementalist:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/ele/gw081.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/ele/elementalist-meteor-shower.jpg
Picture 3:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/ele/elementalist-churning-earth.jpg
Information:
The elementalist has four different elemental attunements: fire, air, water, and earth. You can apparently attune to any of these at any time, unlike the original Guild Wars, and they each have specific qualities (obviously):
Fire:
Does damage to multiple enemies at once. By attuning to fire, anyone who touches the elementalist is hurt by flame damage.
Air:
Deals high damage to specific targets. Nearby enemies are continuously struck by lightning.
Water:
Focuses less on damage than enemies' movement -- freezes people, creates slippery ice, etc. Nearby allies receive continuous healing.
Earth:
Heavily defensive. Apparently can do things like turn flesh to stone, or cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. By attuning to earth, magical protection is automatically given to the elementalist.
Spell Types:
Glyphs:
Increase damage, range, and duration of spells.
Signets:
Provide an ongoing benefit to the caster, but can also "be activated for greater effect."
Conjure Spells:
Summon useful items or weapons that the caster or other party members can use.
Area Spells:
AOE spells that do crazy things.
Weapons:
"Scepter (Main Hand) — Scepter skills specialize in close range combat.
Dagger (Main Hand) — Main hand daggers are fast and focus on medium range spells.
Staff (Two Handed) — Staves are slow casting long range weapons.
Dagger (Off Hand) — Off hand daggers specialize in powerful medium range abilities.
Focus (Off Hand) — Skills on a focus are powerful close range abilities."
You can also watch some of the skills:
Elementalist | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/elementalist/)
Warrior:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/warrior/gw2-warrior-006.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/warrior/gw2-warrior-005.jpg
Information:
Warriors are pretty familiar to most of us :P Warriors in GW2 gather adrenaline as they fight, which increases damage output with every attack, and powers up a "burst skill," which is a powerful attack that varies on weapon set, and uses all adrenaline. A warrior's play style is mostly determined by the weapon they use.
Weapons:
Sword:
Quick and agile; causes bleeding. Main hand or offhand (or both).
Axe:
Builds adrenaline quickly; powerful spike attacks. Main hand or offhand (or both).
Hammer:
Area attacks; stagger enemies. Two-handed.
Mace:
Stun attacks; leaves foes susceptible to further blows. Main hand or offhand (or both).
Great Sword:
Area of effect attacks. Two-handed.
Longbow:
Light arrows on fire for AOE damage. Two-handed.
Rifle:
Single-target ranged weapon. Two-handed.
Skill Types
Stances:
Drain energy, but give some sort of enhancement.
Chains:
A set of three skills that share one slot, so you don't have to use up three slots. They chain together, obviously.
Banners:
Used to buff allies. Can be picked up and carried around, or placed in the ground.
Shouts:
Affect a large area, give bonuses to allies or debuff enemies.
Charge Skills:
Some skills have different power levels - the longer you charge them, the more damage they do.
Warrior | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/warrior/)
Ranger:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/ranger/rangersgroup1.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/ranger/spreadshot1.jpg
Information:
Rangers are hunters, and can charm animals. In GW2, they are able to have 3 pets - though normally only one is allowed out at a time (I wonder what the exceptions are...) A pet's stats are based on the level of the player. There are twelve types of pets, which are either terrestrial, amphibious, or aquatic (the game will apparently have some underwater components - and you can tame sharks ;D). Pets will eventually be able to have four ability slots.
Skill Types:
Traps:
Pretty self-explanatory - an enemy enters a trap and triggers it.
Spirits:
Summon a nature spirit that has a certain area of effect for whatever the spirit does, such as buffing allies.
Weapons:
Main Hand: Sword, Axe
Off Hand: Axe, Dagger, Torch, Warhorn
Two-Handed: Greatsword, Longbow, Shortbow
Ranger | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/ranger/)
Necromancer:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/necromancer/necromancer03.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/necromancer/necromancer01.jpg
Picture 3:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/necromancer/necromancer02.jpg
Information:
Necromancers were one of my favorite classes in Guild Wars. :)
"A necromancer is a practitioner of the dark arts who summons the dead, wields the power of lost souls, and literally sucks the lifeblood of the enemy. A necromancer feeds on life force, which he can use to cheat death or bring allies back from the brink.
A necromancer feeds on death and decay. Life force is the energy that a necromancer uses to extend his own life. Using specific skills, a necromancer builds up life force by attacking and killing enemies. Rather than going into a downed state when he runs out of health, a necromancer automatically activates the Death Shroud ability. A necromancer can continue fighting in the ghostly Death Shroud form until he either runs out of life force or he gets a kill, rallying back into his own corpse."
Special Skills/Spell Types:
Wells: Wells are area-of-effect spells that create a certain effect at a specific location - for example, healing allies within a specified location over a period of time.
Minions:: Necromancers can summon different kinds of undead minions to help them out in battle. Necros that focus on this are typically called "Minion Masters" or MMs in Guild Wars, and it's awesome when they get a ton of minions following them around everywhere, killing things.
Marks: Necromancers can place marks, which are ground-targeted spells with various effects.
Fear: Fear is a condition (that can be removed) which forces another character to run from a necromancer for a short duration.
Weapons:
Main Hand: Axe, Dagger, Scepter
Off Hand: Dagger, Focus, Warhorn
Two-Handed: Staff
Life Force:
"Life force is a special type of energy used by a necromancer. Once he reaches a certain life force threshold, a necromancer can activate Death Shroud (see below), entering a spirit form and leaving his body behind. Each of his weapon sets have skills that give a necromancer life force, and he gains an even larger amount of life force for kills that happen nearby. Finally, there are utility skills that build up life force, like Ghost Armor, a skill that improves a necromancer's armor and adds life force every time he takes damage"
Death Shroud:
"Death Shroud is a special ability--usable by a necromancer at any time--that utilizes his life force as a secondary health bar. Instead of entering a downed state when his health is reduced to zero, a necromancer automatically activates the Death Shroud ability and assumes a spectral form. In Death Shroud, a necromancer has a number of special skills. For example, a necromancer can summon a shadow fiend, a special minion unique to this form. With the ability to tap into Death Shroud, necromancers are certainly one of the most durable professions in Guild Wars 2."
For more information on the necromancer: Necromancer | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/necromancer/)
Guardian:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/guardian/guardian05.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/guardian/guardian01.jpg
Picture 3:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/guardian/guardian04.jpg
Information:
The guardian is a profession that uses "virtues" to combat enemies and protect allies. They have three virtues:
Justice: The guardian's attacks burn enemies
Courage: The guardian can "shrug off even a mighty blow"
Resolve: The guardian passively regenerates health
The guardians also have skill types:
Spirit Weapons:
Like the dervishes in Guild Wars, the Guardian can summon spirit weapons, which cannot be attacked by foes, and have certain abilities.
Symbols:
The guardian can place symbols on the ground, where they affect either allies or enemies.
Wards:
Guardians can create wards on the ground, which allow allies to move freely, but block enemies from passing through.
Aegis:
This is accessible through the virtue of Courage, and is a removable boon that blocks the next attack.
More about the Guardian here: Guardian | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/guardian/)
Thief:
Picture 1:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/thief/thief01.jpg
Picture 2:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/thief/thief05.jpg
Picture 3:
http://www.guildwars2.com/global/includes/images/screenshots/thief/thief03.jpg
Information:
Thieves can steal, go stealth, and have "Initiative points" to use instead of a recharge rate. They have ten points to use, and get one point back every second. Their skills also change depending on the weapon and off-hand you have equipped.
Skill Types:
Stealth: can disappear, and if they are damaged, the invisibility will temporarily be broken. It becomes broken when the thief attacks.
Shadow Stepping: allows them to disappear at one location and arrive at another
Traps: self-explanatory :P
Stealing does not steal an item from the enemy - it generates an environmental-based weapon depending on where you are!
a note on dual skills:
"Dual Skills are special skills that thieves acquire in slot 3 of their weapon bar that are based on both weapons they are wielding. A dual skill is determined by both main hand and offhand weapons, and can vary depending on the order. For example, a thief wielding a pistol main hand with dagger offhand (Shadow Strike) will have a different dual skill than a thief wielding a dagger main hand and pistol offhand (Shadow Shot). The shortbow is the one exception to this rule; it does not have a dual skill."
for more:
Thief | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/thief/)
What Makes Guild Wars 2 Different from Other MMOs?
There are so many articles on the GW2 website that talk about how epic this game will hopefully be. They are trying incredibly hard to break out from the mold that MMOs have been put into, and trying really different things.
For instance, there will be no "Healer" class:
Simple systems like this, along with cross-profession combos, and the dedicated healing skill slot, help free players from the MMORPG shackles, and let us break the mold even more. We're making players more self sufficient, but are also providing appealing ways for them to effortlessly work together to create a more inspired moment-to-moment experience. That is why Guild Wars 2 does not have a dedicated healing class.
Everyone take a deep breath. It's going to be OK.
We have lots of people in our studio that enjoyed playing monks in Guild Wars and healers in other games. We examined what it was about the healer archetypes that people really enjoyed, and we took a look at what it was about those archetypes that made the game less enjoyable. Then we created professions to appeal to those types of players.
We keep hearing other MMO developers espousing the "holy trinity" of DPS/ heal/tank with such reverence, as if this is the most entertaining combat they have ever played. Frankly, we don't like sitting around spamming "looking for healer" to global chat. That feels an awful lot like preparing to have fun instead of having fun.
Don't belittle the SUPPORT role by calling it heal. Healing is the least dynamic kind of support there is. It is reactive instead of proactive. Healing is for when you are already losing. In Guild Wars 2 we prefer that you support your allies before they take a beating. Sure, there are some healing spells in Guild Wars 2, but they make up a small portion of the support lines that are spread throughout the professions. Other kinds of support include buffs, active defense, and cross-profession combinations.
Full article: Healing and Death | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/combat/healing-death/)
Personal Stories:
One of the challenges of a massively-multiplayer game is that in being inclusive to a vast number of people, it loses a lot of the personal interaction that makes single-player RPGs so much fun. When you're looking at the games on the store shelf, it seems you have only two options - a game that you can play with your friends, or a game that has a satisfying personal story. The Guild Wars 2 design team believes that a game should have both.
When you first build a character in the world of Guild Wars 2, you are faced with many questions. What race will you be? What profession? Most MMOs ask that much, and the answers are fairly straightforward. But Guild Wars 2 takes character creation a step beyond. It offers the player an opportunity to go deeper, with another roster of questions designed to develop a character's personality. These comprise a character's 'Biography,' and cover relevant parts of the character's history as well as their hopes for the future and the story they will experience.
A character's biography will influence their storyline immediately. Once you have created your character's race, class, and gender, you may choose your physical appearance - and there are a ton of options! From there, you are offered a chance to answer several detailed questions about your character's personality, history, and background.
. . .
In order to develop your character's personality, the biography also has questions that are applicable to all races and classes. If you describe your character as intimidating and unfriendly, the reactions of NPCs will be different than if you choose to portray yourself as charming and kind. If you are simply making an alt character to see if you enjoy a class or race, you can choose 'random selection,' and these questions will be instantly filled out for you. But if you take a moment and answer, your character's story will be tailored to meet your interests, and match your vision of the person you have created within the world of Tyria.
Dynamic Events (Very impressive):
Traditional quest systems involve walking up to a character who usually has an exclamation point or question mark hovering over their head and talking to them. From here, you get a massive wall of text hardly anyone reads that describes a horrible or totally mundane thing going on in the world that you need to help with. You run off, complete this task, then return and talk to this character again to receive another wall of text and a reward. Traditional quest systems rely on these blocks of quest text to tell you what is happening in the world; this is just an outdated form of storytelling.
In Guild Wars 2, our event system won't make you read a huge quest description to find out what's going on. You'll experience it by seeing and hearing things in the world. If a dragon is attacking, you won't read three paragraphs telling you about it, you'll see buildings exploding in giant balls of fire, and hear characters in the game world screaming about a dragon attack. You'll hear guards from nearby cities trying to recruit players to go help fight the dragon, and see huge clouds of smoke in the distance, rising from the village under siege.
By building a world where you see and hear the experiences, Guild Wars 2 will evolve the MMORPG genre by making a game world that feels truly alive. The core of this evolution is our event system, which allows the world to dynamically change based on actions and decisions made by the players. A single player decision can cascade across a zone, changing the direction of a chain of events until they dramatically alter the content played by players in a map.
In traditional MMOs, when a quest is completed it has no real effect on the game world. You receive your reward and then move on, looking for the next quest to do. The world appears no better or worse for your actions. In GW2, the outcome of every event will directly affect the game world around you.
Traditional MMO quest systems will send multiple players off to kill a boss. One player kills the boss and gets the loot. The rest of the players have to stand around and wait their turn for the boss to re-spawn so they can kill it and get credit for it. You don't want other players around you because they're stealing your kills and slowing your rate of achievement. MMOs are supposed to be about hundreds, if not thousands of players, playing together in a community, not putting them in the same world and then pushing them apart!
The event system in Guild Wars 2 is designed to specifically address this problem. All players that fully participate in an event are rewarded for doing so; everyone who helps kill a monster or blow up an enemy catapult will get credit for doing so. There is no kill stealing and no quest camping. Everyone works together towards the common goal of the event and everyone is rewarded for doing so.
Full article here: Dynamic Events Overview | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/dynamic-events/dynamic-events-overview/)
*phew*
I cut so much information out of this thread; THERE IS SO MUCH. If you want to find out more, definitely check out the website, which I linked to many times. If they pull this game off, it is going to be INCREDIBLE. I am so excited. I will also keep updating this as more information comes out. I hope some of you get at least some information from this giant text wall. Tried to make it as friendly to you lazy readers as possible :P
Links:
Official site: Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/)
Hall of Monuments [Guild Wars/GW2 Reward Calculator]: Hall of Monuments | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/hall-of-monuments/)
Videos: Videos | Guild Wars 2 (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/media/videos/)