MMORPG: Guild Wars 2

Guild Wars 2

Guild Wars 2 is an MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) based in the fantasy setting of Tyria, the game was released worldwide on the 28th of August 2012. The game was published by NCsoft and developed by ArenaNet, a company made up of former Blizzard employees who can be credited for their work on the Warcraft and Diablo seires. The game has been distributed both on-disc and digitally for both PC and Mac. It has currently sold over 2 million copies and still has over 400,000 palyers. The game sets itself apart from other MMO's in two ways. First of all there is no monthly subscription fee, you pay £49.99 once, and are then free to play for as long as you want. The second factor that sets it apart is its focus on story. Unlike many other MMO's Guildwars 2's story is boasted as deep and involving, with diffrent storylines and branching paths for the story to take, something more common found in single player RPG's. The creators pride themselves on challenging traditional MMO's by creating a world that reponds to the players choices and actions. The game contains both PvE (Player versus Enviroment) and PvP (Player versus Player) modes common found in all other action based MMO's however Guildwars 2 also incorporates a unique 'World vs World' mode in which up to 500 players split into two teams, red and blue, and fight each other. The game has been critically acclaimed by criticts like IGN and Gamespot reciving scores of around 9. Genrally reviews praise the unique presentation, inavitive combat system, lack of subscription fee, and unique focus on player specific story telling. The only common complaints being the clumsy item trading system between players, and the outragious que times for world vs world games, whichs ques can last up to days. As an excample of synergy there is also a long line of merchandice availible from the games website, including artwork, poster and plush toys among other things. The games artwork (by Daniel Dociu and Kekai Kotaki) has also been universaly praised with its unique watercoulor style.